JACOB  CHAMBERLAIN 


PRINCETON,  N.  J.  *^ 


Purchased  by  the  Hamill  Missionary  Fund. 


DS  413    .C43  1900 
Chamberlain,  Jacob,  1835- 
1908  . 

The  cobra's  den,  and  other 
stories  of  missionary  work 


I 


Digitized  by 

the  internet  Arcliive 

in  2015 

https://arcliive.org/details/cobrasdenotlierstOOcliam_0 


The  Cobra's  Den 


The  Cobra's  Den 


And  Other  Stories  of 
Missionary  Work  among 
the  Telugus   of  India 


Rev.  Jacob  Chamberlain,  M.  D.,  D.  D. 

Forty  years  a  Missionary  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  America, 
at  Madanapalle,  India 

Author  of  "  In  the  Tiger  Jungle  " 


"Hindus!  Awake,  or  you  are  lost.  How  many  thousands  of  thousands 
have  these  missionaries  turned  to  Christianity!  On  how  many  more  have 
they  cast  their  nets!  If  we  sleep  as  heretofore,  in  a  short  time  they  will 
turn  all  to  Christianity,  and  our  temples  will  be  changed  into  churches.  Let 
all  the  people  join  as  one  man  to  banish  Christianity  from  our  land." — From 
an  Anti-Chriitian  Tamil  Tract.    See  p.  24. 


New  York         Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature 


Copyright,  1900 
by 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


THE  CAXTON  PRESS 
NEW  YORK. 


TO  THAT 
IDEAL  MISSIONARY  SECRETARY 

REV.  HENRY  NITCHIE  COBB,  D.D. 
MY  LIFELONG  FRIEND 
AND  BROTHER 


Preface 


The  exceedingly  kind  reception  given  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic,  to  "  In  the  Tiger  Jungle  and 
Other  Stories  of  Missionary  Work  among  the 
Telugus"  seems  to  indicate  that  such  simple 
sketches  of  incidents  in  the  life  and  work  of  any 
earnest,  observant  missionary  have  a  place  of 
some  importance,  in  quickening  the  interest  of 
both  young  people  and  older  in  all  that  pertains 
to  the  spread  of  the  Kingdom,  and  that  another 
collection  of  such  sketches  may  not  be  out  of 
place.  Indeed,  many  urgent  requests,  from  both 
friends  and  strangers,  in  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America,  have  been  received,  that  at  the  earliest 
date  another  such  collection  should  be  issued. 
As  these  requests  have  come  largely  from  ac- 
knowledged leaders  in  the  church  in  the  Home 
Lands,  as  well  as  from  fellow-missionaries  in 
different  countries,  and  from  Missionary  Secre- 
taries of  many  Societies  and  Boards,  the  call  can 
no  longer  be  left  unheeded. 

1  have  therefore  made,  and  present  herewith, 
another  collection  of  sketches  which  have  ap- 
7 


Preface 


peared  in  a  wide  variety  of  periodicals,  in  Great 
Britain,  India  and  Australia,  as  well  as  in  the 
United  States,  during  the  forty  years  of  my  mis- 
sionary life.  They  cover  a  wide  range  of  sub- 
jects, grave  and  gay,  and  illustrate  very  different 
phases  of  missionary  life  and  work.  They  were 
penned,  mostly,  when  the  incidents  occurred,  but 
no  attempt  has  been  made  to  place  them  in  any 
chronological  order.  Still  it  is  believed  that,  in 
the  order  of  thought,  one  leads  to  another.  Usu- 
ally each  chapter  is  complete  in  itself,  and  the 
book  may  be  opened  at  any  point,  and  any  sketch 
read  independently  without  noticeable  loss  of 
connection. 

Testimonies,  received  from  many  unimpeach- 
able witnesses,  of  missionary  interest  quickened, 
or  first  aroused,  and  deeper  consecration  of  per- 
son and  purse  produced  by  the  perusal  of  the 
former  volume,  give  stimulus  to  the  hope  and  in- 
centive to  the  prayer  that  this  little  volume  may 
be  used  of  the  Master  only  for  the  arousing  of 
His  people,  the  promotion  of  His  cause,  and  the 
earlier  establishment  of  His  Kingdom  in  the  Re- 
volted Lands  of  the  Orient. 

Jacob  Chamberlain. 

Madanapalle,  India. 


8 


Contents 


chap.  page 
Introductory        .       .      .      .  13 
I.  The  Cobra's  Den        .       .       .  .19 
II.  The  Snake-Bitten  Hindu's  Story       .  27 

III.  The  Angry  Mob  and  the  Story  of  the  Cross  36 

IV.  The  Surgeon's  Knife  Dethrones  a  Hindu 

Idol  48 

V.  Yes,  or  No?    Instructions  Wanted   .  62 
VI.  Those  Torn-Up  Gospels       .       .  .66 
VII.  The  Hindu  Judge's  Opinion  of  the  Bible  72 
VIII.  Marketing  the  Bible     .       .       .  .76 
IX.  A  Medico-Evangelistic  Tour     .       ,  85 
X.  Hinduism  as  It  Is        .       .       .       .  100 
XI.  "  Lord  Ganesa  "  and  Little  Ramaswami,  1 1 1 
XII.  A  Brahman's  Testimony       .       .  • 


XIII.  A  Daybreak  Audience  and  a  Chase  for  a 

Tiger  121 

XIV.  The  Spotted  Tiger  Foiled  .       .       .  131 
XV.  The  Heat  in  India:  How  I  Keep  My 

Study  Cool  138 

XVI.  Oddities  of  Travel  in  India      .       .  145 
XVII.  A  Missionary  Sanitarium      .       .  .172 
9 


Contents 


CHAP. 


PAGE 


XVIII.  How  the  "  Cut "  Cuts     .       .       .  182 

XIX.  How  Hindu  Christians  Give       .       .  195 

XX.  A  Merchant  of  Means  Joins  Us       .  207 

XXI.  "  Break  Cocoanuts  Over  the  Wheels  "  .  212 
XXII.  The  Weaving  of  India  Rugs  or  God's 


XXIII.  "  Despondent  Missionaries  "       .       .  227 

XXIV.  The  Change  of  Front  in  India  .  .  232 
XXV.  Vernacular  Preaching :  Is  it  Ineffective  ?  247 

XXVI.  A  Unique  Missionary  Meeting  on  the 


XXVII.  The  Oriental  '« Bride  of  the  Lamb  "  .265 


Plans  in  Our  Lives 


218 


Himalayas 


255 


10 


Illustrations 


The  Madanapalle  Church  bidding  farewell  to  Dr. 

and  Mrs.  Chamberlain  Frontispiece 

FACING  PACB 

Snake  Charmers  with  Cobras  

The  Bungalow  near  which  was  the  Cobra's  Den 
"  The  Hermitage  "  where  the  Snake-bitten  Hindu  Told 

His  Story  28 

The  Mahaswami  of  Nalapurapalle  ^ 


I .  .  .  .  20 


A  Hindu  Sanyasi 
India  Buffaloes  Bathing 
A  Hindu  Street  Scene  . 


[  76 

A  Hindu  Funeral  Scene "» 
A  Temple  Elephant  .  .  / 

Ascending  the  Pulney  Mountains  to  Kodai  Kanal  •  •  1  j 
A  Toddy  Climber  Tapping  Palmyra  Trees  for  Toddy  (  '  ' 

Kodai  K^nal  Lake  and  Sanitarium  172 

Hindu  Potters  at  their  Work  .  "I 
A  Group  of  Hindus  at  Dinner  j 
Under  Training  for  a  "  Dancing  Girl "  "» 
An  India  Aloe  Plant  in  Bloom .  .  .  .  / 


11 


Introductory 


"Our  Hindu  Cousins"  are  probably  the  most 
interesting,  and  those  most  rewarding  study,  of 
any  of  the  peoples  of  Asia.  Whether  from  their 
ancient  literature,  antedating  the  Greek  by  many 
centuries;  whether  from  their  Primitive  Religion, 
as  set  forth  in  their  earlier  Vedas,  contemporary 
with  Moses  and  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Mount 
Sinai;  whether  from  their  ancient  civilisation, 
dating  from  the  time  when  our  European  ances- 
tors were  dressed  in  skins,  roaming  the  forests 
and  living  in  huts  and  in  caves;  whether  from 
their  country  with  its  diversified  scenery  and  its 
varied  climate,  reaching  from  the  ever  scorching 
sand  plains  of  Cape  Comorin  to  the  forever  frozen 
peaks  of  the  Himalayas,  where  stand  the  tallest 
giant  mountains  of  the  globe;  whether  from 
their  famed  specimens  of  ancient  architecture,  as 
exemplified  in  the  Taj  and  other  monuments; 
whether  from  their  elegant  works  of  art,  in 
mosaics,  in  carved  work,  in  embroidery;  whether 
from  their  world-famed  magicians,  jugglers  and 

13 


Introductory- 
athletes;  whether  from  their  intricate  Caste  sys- 
tem, earliest  of  all  Trade  Unions,  most  effective 
of  all  Boycotts,  which  proved  undoubtedly  first  a 
blessing  to  the  land,  and  then,  as  it  degenerated 
and  was  misused,  the  greatest  curse  resting  upon 
them  now  for  many  generations,  the  people  of 
India,  in  their  former  high  estate,  in  their  present 
degeneration,  in  the  many-sided  efforts  now  be- 
ing put  forth  for  their  regeneration  and  uplifting, 
are  an  intensely  interesting  subject  for  study  and 
investigation. 

The  story  of  life  and  work  among  them,  on 
whatever  lines  that  work  may  run,  political,  mili- 
tary, commercial,  scientific,  sociological,  or  re- 
ligious, is  sure  of  interested  listeners  if  truly  and 
realistically  told.  And  the  story  of  rnissionary 
life  and  missionary  work  and  incident  may  well 
be  known  far  more  than  it  is  by  the  Church  in 
Home  Lands,  that  is  giving  of  its  treasures  and 
consecrating  its  sons  and  its  daughters  by  in- 
creasing scores  to  the  uplifting  morally,  intel- 
lectually and  spiritually  of  India's  interesting 
millions. 

It  is  among  the  Telugu  people  of  India  that  the 
incidents  and  the  work  depicted  in  the  following 
pages  have  mostly  taken  place.    The  Telugus  in- 
habit the  regions  from  Madras  northward  to 
14 


Introductory 

Ganjam,  from  latitude  13°  four  hundred  miles 
north  to  19°,  and  from  the  seacoast  of  the  Indian 
Ocean,  or  Bay  of  Bengal,  west  to  and  including 
large  portions  of  the  dominions  of  the  Maharajah 
of  Mysore  and  of  the  Nizam  of  Hyderabad. 

These  Telugus  number  nearly  twenty  millions 
of  people.  They,  living  on  the  seacoast,  were 
anciently  maritime  in  their  tendencies,  having, 
two  thousand  years  ago,  made  voyages  for  trade 
and  left  some  colonies  in  far  off  Borneo  and  Java 
and  adjacent  islands.  They  were  adepts  in  Medi- 
cine and  Surgery  as  long  ago  as  Alexander  the 
Great's  invasion  of  India,  525  b.  c,  as  vouched 
for  by  the  historians  of  that  invasion  who  speak 
of  the  aid  received  by  them  from  the  Andhra 
(Telugu)  surgeons  in  the  treatment  of  their 
wounded.  They  had  an  extensive  literature  and 
some  large  libraries,  which  were,  however,  as  far 
as  possible,  destroyed  and  obliterated  by  the  Mo- 
hammedans when  they  conquered  the  Telugus, 
and  sought  thus  to  break  their  spirit  and  compass 
their  lasting  subjugation. 

The  Telugus  are  physically  the  tallest  and  best 
developed  of  all  the  races  of  Southern  India  and 
are,  in  the  main,  a  courteous,  kindly,  intelligent, 
ingenuous,  and  now  again  progressive  people. 
Their  features  are  more  of  a  European  cast  and 

15 


Introductory 

their  color  from  that  of  a  mulatto  to  that  of  a 
Spaniard. 

Of  the  forty  distinct  languages,  and  the  one 
hundred  divergent  dialects  spoken  in  India,  the 
Telugu  is  spoken  by  more  people  than  any  other 
language  with  the  exception  of  perhaps  five  or 
six.  It  is  a  mellifluous  and  beautiful  language, 
possessing  a  very  copious  vocabulary,  with  such 
abundant  verbal  forms,  conjugations  and  declen- 
sions, and  modes,  active,  passive  and  middle, 
with  reflexive,  causative,  intensive  variations  of 
all  three,  that  it  takes  over  one  thousand  forms 
thoroughly  to  conjugate  and  decline  one  such 
verb.  It  is  thus  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  expres- 
sion of  all  possible  phases  of  an  idea.  It  is  a 
language  of  Poetry  and  Song.  Even  their  an- 
cient works  on  grammar  and  arithmetic,  astron- 
omy, astrology,  medicine,  law  and  philosophy 
are  all  written  in  poetry,  and  are  always  chanted 
or  intoned  in  reading.  Their  language  antedates 
the  coming  down  into  India  of  the  Aryans,  who 
brought  with  them  their  still  more  cultivated 
Sanskrit,  and  who  farther  enriched  the  Telugu  by 
contributing  to  it  nearly  as  many  Sanskrit  words 
as  the  English  received  from  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages  combined.  In  fact  about  one-third  of 
the  vocables  now  in  use  among  the  Telugus  are 
16 


Introductory 

Sanskrit,  introduced,  in  their  true  Sanskrit  form, 
but  usually  with  Telugu  case  terminations  added, 
into  the  body  of  the  language. 

The  religion  of  the  Telugus,  as  of  all  modern 
Hindus,  is  a  debased  form  of  the  ancient  Vedic 
Hinduism,  and  is  fully  described  in  the  chapter 
"  Hinduism  as  it  is." 

It  is  among  these  Telugus  that  it  has  been  my 
delight  to  live,  and  for  them  to  labor  for  these 
forty  years,  and  for  whom,  God  willing,  my  re- 
maining days  are  to  be  spent,  and  "My  heart's 
desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  them  is  that  they 
may  be  saved." 


17 


I 


THE  cobra's  den 

It  was  a  hot  Sunday  morning  in  India,  with- 
out a  cloud  in  the  brazen  skies.  We  had  just 
come  home  from  early  morning  service  in  our 
Telugu  Native  Church,  and  had  taken  our  seats 
at  the  breakfast-table.  At  the  open  door  of  our 
dining-room  our  Telugu  school-teacher  appeared 
and  said: 

"Sir,  a  big  cobra  has  just  been  chasing  a  frog 
through  the  whole  length  of  your  front  veranda. 
He  struck  at  it  again  and  again  as  it  sprang  past 
the  open  doors  of  the  sitting-room,  but  the  frog, 
uttering  piercing  shrieks, — as  a  frog  can  when 
pursued  by  a  serpent, — sprang  each  time  quick 
enough  to  elude  its  jaws,  and  together  they 
rushed  off  the  south  end  of  the  veranda,  and  the 
frog  sprang  under  a  box  that  is  standing  there, 
too  near  down  upon  the  hard  floor  for  the  big 
cobra  to  get  under,  and  so  escaped." 

"  Where  is  the  cobra  now  ?  " 

"That  is  just  what  1  don't  know,"  said  he, 
"for,  while  I  was  looking  to  see  what  had  be- 

19 


The  Cobra's  Den 


come  of  the  frog,  how  he  had  got  away,  the 
cobra  disappeared  among  the  flower  pots  and  I 
cannot  see  where  he  has  gone." 

"He  must  have  a  hole  there,  close  by  the 
veranda  somewhere.  Will  you  please  go  and 
watch  until  I  come,  and  see  if  you  can  get  sight 
of  him  again,  for  he  must  be  killed,  if  possible, 
if  he  lives  as  near  the  house  as  that." 

I  don't  go  a  shooting  on  Sunday,  but  I  went 
for  my  pistol  then,  for  I  considered  it  decidedly 
a  work  of  necessity  and  mercy  to  put  an  end  to 
the  danger  of  ourselves  or  our  people  being  bitten 
by  that  deadly  cobra.  Soon  appearing  with  a 
revolver,  which  I  keep  for  travelling  through  the 
jungles  by  night,  I  went  to  hunting  for  the 
cobra's  den. 

Two  large  earthen  flower  pots  stood  about  six 
feet  from  the  end  of  the  veranda,  with  each  a 
beautiful  rose  growing  in  it,  of  which  my  wife 
was  very  fond,  and  beside  which  she  almost 
daily  stood  picking  off  dead  leaves,  or  watering 
and  tending  the  roses.  I  soon  discovered  a  hole 
in  the  ground  about  as  large  as  my  wrist,  partly 
concealed  by  the  grass  that  was  growing  right 
between  the  two  flower  pots,  which  were  far 
enough  apart  for  a  person  to  stand  between 
them.    The  hole  went  down  perpendicularly, 

20 


THE  liUNOALOVV  NEAK  THE  (OHitA'S  UEN 


The  Cobra's  Den 


growing  larger  as  it  went  deeper.  It  took  but  a 
moment  to  bring  a  hand  mirror  and  throw  tlie 
reflection  of  the  briglit  sun  right  down  into  the 
hole.  It  revealed  a  horizontal  chamber,  or  den, 
only  a  foot  or  so  deep  and  the  glistening  scales 
of  a  cobra  coiled  up  at  rest. 

Taking  a  piece  of  a  broken  wagon  tire  in  my 
left  hand  to  stop  up  the  hole  with,  and  placing  the 
end  of  it  slantingly  in  the  hole,  I  fired  down  into 
the  den.  Not  a  motion  was  seen.  !  had  missed. 
Turning  the  tire  up  edgewise,  I  fired  again. 
What  a  squirming  there  was!  His  Majesty,  the 
cobra,  had  been  wounded.  He  struck  up,  vi- 
ciously at  the  iron,  which  was  turned  down  flat 
as  soon  as  I  had  fired,  to  keep  him  from  darting 
out  at  us.  I  tamed  the  iron  edgewise  and  fired 
again,  and  again. 

When  I  had  unloaded  the  sixth  barrel,  I  let  him 
strike  his  head  out,  and  caught  it  against  the  side 
with  the  iron  tire.  I  had  brought  out  with  me  a 
pair  of  large  hedge  shears.  With  these  I  caught 
hold  of  his  protruding  neck,  and  with  a  stout 
pull  with  both  hands,  pulled  him  out  and  gave 
him  a  flirt  out  into  the  "compound."  What  a 
scattering  there  was  of  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren! My  attention  had  been  so  taken  up  by 
the  snake  that  I  had  not  noticed  what  a  crowd 

21 


The  Cobra's  Den 


had  gathered  around.  Hearing  the  sound  of 
shooting  on  Sunday  in  the  mission  compound 
or  door-yard,  they  had  judged  that  something 
strange  was  going  on  and  had  rushed  in  to 
see. 

How  they  screamed  and  ran!  for  they  did  not 
know  that  the  grip  of  the  shears  had  dislocated 
the  fellow's  neck,  and,  seeing  a  full-sized  cobra 
flying  out  toward  them,  they  seemed  to  think 
that  he  was  springing  at  them,  and  the  soles  of  a 
good  many  pairs  of  feet  were  visible  to  one  who 
stood  near  whence  the  snake  had  made  his  long 
leap. 

As  I  had  grasped  the  head  of  the  cobra  with 
the  shears,  I  had  given  the  wagon  tire  to  the 
teacher  asking  him  to  insert  the  end  again,  in- 
stantly that  I  drew  the  cobra  out,  for  where  one 
cobra  is  you  will  usually  find  a  second.  I  came 
back  and  threw  the  rays  of  the  sun  in  again. 
Yes,  there  were  bright  cobra's  scales,  and  an- 
other cobra  wriggling. 

Loading  my  pistol  again  I  repeated  the  firing, 
hoping  that  he  would  strike  his  head  up  out,  so 
that  I  could  catch  his  head  also.  Squirm  and 
strike  as  he  did,  his  head  did  not  come  out  of  the 
hole  until  1  had  fired  many  times,  but  it  finally 
came,  and  1  secured  him  also.  On  drawing  him 
22 


The  Cobra's  Den 


out  and  examining  him  closely  we  found  four- 
teen pistol  ball  holes  through  his  body,  and  still 
there  was  fight  in  him.  Any  three  of  the  holes 
would  have  proved  fatal  in  time,  but  he  died 
making  a  splendid  fight.  We  laid  the  cobras 
out  in  the  veranda  and  measured  them.  One  of 
them  measured  five  feet  eleven  inches,  and  the 
other  six  feet  and  two  inches,  than  which  one 
rarely  finds  a  cobra  larger. 

Their  hole  showed  that  they  had  evidently 
been  living  there  right  among  the  flower  pots 
that  were  tended  daily  and  within  six  feet  of  our 
veranda  and  within  twelve  feet  of  my  study  door 
for  weeks  or  months.  A  short  time  after  some 
expert  snake-charmers  were  summoned  to  rid 
our  compound  of  serpents.  In  half  an  hour, 
while  we  were  intently  watching,  they  had, 
with  their  weird,  enchanting  music,  charmed  and 
enticed  from  holes  not  noted  by  me  before,  in 
the  grass  and  under  the  shrubbery  about  our 
door  yard,  and  dextrously  captured,  one  by  one, 
five  more  full-sized  cobras.  And  though  the 
cobra  is  the  deadliest  serpent  known,  and  thou- 
sands of  persons  die  of  their  bite  yearly  in  India, 
no  one  in  our  mission  has  ever  been  harmed  by 
one.  Verily  "He  shall  give  His  Angels  charge 
over  thee  to  keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways  "  is  the 

23 


The  Cobra's  Den 

unbidden  exclamation  of  many  a  missionary  in 
such  a  time. 

Tlie  above  incident,  as  an  illustration  of  a  deep 
truth,  has  given  me  great  cheer  during  the  past 
year. 

The  fact  is  known  all  over  Christendom  that 
Hinduism  has  never  been  so  fierce  in  its  opposi- 
tion, so  vigorous  and  so  vicious  in  its  attacks  on 
missionaries  and  their  work  as  now.  Hindu 
Tract  Societies,  Hindu  Preaching  Societies,  have 
been  established  in  the  great  cities,  with  branches 
all  through  the  country.  These  Hindu  Tract 
Societies  issue  very  few  books  and  tracts  for  in- 
culcating their  own  religion.  Nearly  all  of  their 
multitudinous  issues  are  violent  attacks  on  Chris- 
tianity and  on  Christ;  on  missionaries  and  their 
work.  Every  old  and  exploded  infidel  objection 
from  the  Occident  is  brought  forth  with  a  clang 
of  cymbals,  and  made  to  do  service  in  the  Ori- 
ent, now  angrily  awakening.  The  most  abso- 
lutely untrue  charges  against  missions,  m.ission- 
aries  and  converts,  are  printed  and  scattered  by 
the  hundred-thousand.  The  venom  is  fairly  spit 
out  in  jets  as  was  the  venom  of  those  cobras  on 
the  iron. 

Hindu  "preachers"  are  sent  out  from  head- 
quarters into  the  regions  where  the  different 

24 


The  Cobra's  Den 


missionaries  are  working,  not  to  preach  and 
explain  the  doctrines  of  Hinduism  so  much  as  to 
make  attacks  on  Christianity  and  the  missionary 
work.  In  many  places  their  preachers  seem  to 
make  little  effort  to  gather  audiences  for  them- 
selves, but  have  messengers  out  here  and  there, 
and  if  a  missionary  or  native  pastor,  or  catechist 
gathers  an  audience  in  a  street,  or  in  a  wayside 
shed,  to  tell  them  of  the  love  of  Christ,  down 
they  come  and,  taking  a  stand  near,  begin  to 
pour  out  blasphemy  and  lies  and  seek  to  draw 
away  or  disperse  their  audiences. 

We  are  not  altogether  sorry  to  have  it  so. 
Nothing  is  so  disheartening  as  the  stolid  or 
contemptuous  indifference  so  often  manifested 
in  past  years.  The  intensity  of  their  opposition 
attracts  public  attention  widely  to  our  message; 
to  our  weapons  that  are  doing  them  this  damage. 
We  know  now  that  Hinduism  has  been  hit;  that 
it  has  been  vitally  wounded.  It  is  madly  striking 
back  in  sheer  desperation.  My  cobra  friends 
were  not  disturbed  by  the  noise  of  my  first 
shots.  What  did  they  care  for  my  banging 
away  so  long  as  they  were  not  hit?  But  when, 
with  better  aim,  the  bullets  began  to  pierce  their 
coils,  how  those  cobras  squirmed! 

Thus  it  is  with  the  now  intensely  antagonistic 

25 


The  Cobra's  Den 


Hinduism.  Sneering  indifference  is  past.  The 
contest  waxes  hot.  The  wild,  unreasoning  strik- 
ing back  tells  of  mortal  wounds  inflicted;  pres- 
ages victory  for  our  Immanuel  Captain,  if  we 
wisely,  ceaselessly,  zealously  press  the  conflict. 
Now  is  the  time  to  rally  for  India's  conquest  for 
Christ. 


26 


II 


THE  SNAKE-BITTEN  HINDU'S  STORY 

I  AM  up  on  a  little  mountain  in  our  mission 
district,  fifteen  miles  from  Madanapalle.  It 
stands  1,750  feet  above  the  Madanapalle  plain, 
and  is,  in  the  hot  season,  some  ten  degrees 
cooler.  I  have  built  here  a  little  "hermitage," 
to  which  I  can  come  for  quiet  literary  work. 
The  brain  works  more  satisfactorily  and  rapidly 
with  the  lower  temperature  and  the  absence  of 
the  continual  interruptions  to  which  the  mis- 
sionary at  his  own  station  is  perpetually  subject. 
Driving  out  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain  very 
early  Monday  morning,  and  climbing  up  the 
rough,  crooked  path  to  the  summit  soon  after 
sunrise,  I  can  have  five  clear  days  with  my 
amanuensis  for  my  work  in  helping  to  prepare 
Telugu  Christian  literature  for  the  native  Church, 
and  go  down  again  Friday  evening  to  have 
Saturday  and  Sunday  at  my  station  for  other 
duties.  Thus  1  am  up  here  now,  but  my  usual 
isolation  was  interrupted  one  day  last  week  by  a 
very  pleasing  incident. 

27 


The  Cobra's  Den 


I  was  sitting  at  my  desk  writing  and  glancing 
out  upon  the  mountain  scenery  when  in  the  wide 
open  doorway  a  figure  appeared,  and  looking  up 
I  saw  a  man  from  one  of  our  native  Christian 
villages  ten  miles  beyond  this,  who  with  salaams 
and  inquiries  for  my  health  told  me  that  he  had 
come  as  the  escort  of  a  well-to-do,  high-caste 
Telugu  landholder,  who  lived  in  the  caste  village 
adjacent  to  theirs,  and  who  had  come  up  to 
render  his  thanks  to  me  for  saving  his  life  when 
he  was  a  lad  and  had  been  bitten  by  a  deadly 
serpent.  Would  I  be  pleased  to  give  him  audi- 
ence? He  was  waiting  in  the  adjoining  clump 
of  trees  to  know  whether  I  could  receive  him 
now. 

He  soon  appeared  with  a  tray  of  rock  candy, 
cocoanuts  and  limes.  Making  low  obeisance,  in 
feeling  words  he  expressed  his  gratitude  to  me 
for  what  I  had  done  so  long  ago  for  him.  He 
had  sent,  when  I  was  up  here  the  week  before, 
saying  that  for  fifteen  years  he  had  not  had  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  me;  might  he  come  up 
here  this  week  for  the  purpose  ?  So  I  had  had 
the  opportunity  of  reviving  my  somewhat  hazy 
memory  of  what  had  occurred  so  long  ago.  His 
name  was  Timmaya  Reddi.  His  age  now  about 
forty. 

28 


The  Snake-Bitten  Hindu's  Story 

I  asked  him  to  be  seated,  and  for  well  on  to 
half  an  hour  he  talked,  pouring  out  his  gratitude, 
and  recounting  in  minute  detail  the  occurrences 
of  that  momentous  day  in  his  life.  I  have  since 
conversed  with  one  of  our  native  Christians  who 
was  there  and  saw  him  after  he  was  bitten,  and 
saw  the  venomous  reptile  that  inflicted  the 
wound,  and  was  at  my  tent  while  I  was  treating 
him,  and  who  confirmed  his  statements  in  every 
particular.  I  will  give  his  story  and,  where  I 
can,  will  give  it  in  his  own  words,  turned  into 
English. 

"It  was  more  than  two  decades  ago — 1  know 

not  just  how  many  years — but  I  was  then  only 

a  boy  of  fifteen,  and  now  I  have  a  wife  and 

children.    It  was  just  after  you  had  placed  the 

sole  of  your  foot  down  solidly  at  Timmareddi- 

palle  and  Nalcheruvupalle,  and  the  people  of 

those  hamlets  had  joined  your  Veda.    (It  must 

have  been  in  the  autumn  of  1872  or  spring  of 

1873,  twenty-four  years  ago.)    It  was  early 

m,orning.    I  had  gone  with  my  uncle  out  to  our 

sugar-cane  field  to  see  that  the  irrigation  channels 

were  open  and  the  field  being  properly  watered. 

One  channel  seemed  clogged.    I  pressed  in  among 

the  tall  cane  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  What 

seemed  like  a  reddish-brown  stick  of  wood, 
29 


The  Cobra's  Den 


larger  than  my  arm  at  the  shoulder,  lay  across 
the  channel  in  the  water.  Leaves  and  grass  had 
lodged  upon  it  and  hindered  the  water's  flow.  It 
was  too  dark  for  me  to  see  that  it  was  a  sleeping 
serpent.  I  raised  my  crooked  axe,  or  bill-hook, 
and  struck  it  a  blow  to  break  it  and  draw  it  out 
of  the  way.  The  rotten  log,  as  I  thought  it, 
squirmed  and  turned  upon  me.  I  saw  the  head, 
the  eyes,  the  fangs  of  a  deadly  serpent. 

"Back  I  sprang  with  all  my  might,  shouting 
for  my  uncle.  The  serpent  was  spryer  than  I. 
Into  my  right  ankle  he  drove  those  fangs.  Ugh! 
How  his  eyes  glared  as  he  turned  and  ran  off, 
showing  the  big  gash  I  had  made  with  my  axe 
in  his  body,  only  a  cubit  from  his  head.  That 
glare  of  his  eyes,  those  horrid  fangs,  that  blood- 
spurting  gash  in  his  body  were  the  last  things 
these  eyes  saw  that  morning  as  1  fell  over  among 
the  sugar-cane.  How  the  pains  shot  up  my  leg! 
How  my  heart  began  to  flutter!  How  soon  my 
eyes  became  dim  and  shut  as  in  death! 

"My  uncle  sprang  in  and  caught  me  by  the 
shoulders  just  in  time  to  see  the  serpent,  five 
cubits  long,  disappear  among  the  thick  cane. 
No,  it  was  not  a  cobra.  Cobras  are  not  so  large; 
but  this  is  regarded  as  equally  deadly  and  is  as 
much  dreaded  by  us.    Out  my  uncle  dragged  me 

30 


The  Snake-Bitten  Hindu's  Story 

into  the  open,  threw  me  on  his  shoulder,  ran 
with  me  to  our  house  in  the  village  and  laid  me, 
limp  as  dead,  on  the  bench  at  my  mother's  door. 
1  knew  nothing  from  the  time  I  fell  over  in  the 
cane,  but  I  have  heard  my  uncle  and  my  mother 
and  my  cousins  so  often  recount  all  that  hap- 
pened that  day,  that  I  can  see  it  all  with  my  eyes, 
though  they  then  were  closed  and  dead,  and  I 
can  tell  you  everything  that  took  place  that  day. 

"Up  went  the  death  wail.  The  village  was 
gathered  at  our  door  to  see  me  as  I  lay  on  the 
settee,  just  barely  breathing.  '  Do  this,'  said  one. 
'It's  no  use,  the  death  mark  is  on  him,'  was  the 
reply.  'Do  that,'  said  another.  'Did  we  not 
try  it  when  this  very  serpent  bit  Ramayya,  and 
he  never  opened  his  eyes  ?'  '  Who  has  a  snake- 
stone  ?  They  say  it  will  extract  the  poison.  Is 
there  not  one  in  this  village  ? '  '  No,  and  if  there 
were,  one  has  never  been  known  to  cure  the  bite 
of  this  king  of  poisons.' 

"Just  then  there  came  running  up  some  of 
your  Christians,  who  had  heard  the  shouts  and 
seen  the  commotion  from  their  hamlet  a  few 
rods  away.  ' The  missionary  doctor!  The  mis- 
sionary doctor!'  shouted  they.  'Quick!  take 
the  boy  to  him.    He  came  last  night  to  Tim- 

mareddipalle.    He  is  in  his  tent  there  now.  He 
31 


The  Cobra's  Den 


never  fails  to  cure  any  snake  bite  that  is  brought 
to  him.    Take  him  and  run! ' 

"'Where  is  there  a  cart  to  put  him  in?" 
'Don't  wait  for  any  cart.  He  will  be  dead  be- 
fore you  can  get  him  there  by  the  cart  road. 
Take  him  on  your  shoulders  and  run  by  the 
short  cut.  It's  only  a  mile  by  the  short  foot- 
path.' 

"  Onto  his  strong  shoulders  my  uncle  instantly 
threw  me.  Down  the  sloping  rock,  across  the 
gully,  up  through  the  bushes  on  the  other  side 
and  over  ploughed  fields  he  ran.  Two  vigorous 
cousins  ran  at  his  sides,  and  every  now  and  then 
took  me  from  his  shoulder  onto  theirs  as  they 
ran.  Down  through  the  dry  tank  bed,  up  over 
the  rocks,  on  they  sped,  for  death  was  at  their 
heels.  Another  cousin,  the  fleetest  runner  of  the 
village,  ran  on  ahead  to  your  tent  to  bear  the 
news  and  let  you  get  ready.  Panting,  they 
brought  me  up  to  your  tent  and  laid  me  on  the 
grass  under  a  tree  at  your  tent  door.  You  were 
there  ready,  and  one  of  your  trained  men  to  help 
you,  for  from  before  sunrise  your  tent  had  been 
surrounded  by  patients  whom  you  were  treating. 
All  gave  way  as  they  brought  the  snake-bitten 
boy  up. 

"  '  Can  he  cure  him  ?  Can  he  cure  him  ?'  ran 
33 


The  Snake-Bitten  Hindu's  Story 

the  question  through  the  crowd.  'No,  it  is  too 
late.  He's  dead  already,'  was  the  sad  reply. 
My  uncle  says  he  thought  so,  too,  but  that  you 
said  'Steady!  no  noise,  no  commotion,  no  wail- 
ing, only  do  as  1  say.'  How  eagerly  he  and  they 
watched  you. 

"As  they  laid  me  down  you  had  in  your  hand 
a  bottle  of  that  Magic  Poison  Killing  Liquid. 
[Liquor  Ammoniae  Fortissimus,  which  we  use 
for  cobra,  viper  and  scorpion  stings  ]  Up  my 
nostrils  you  threw  some  of  its  spray;  with  a 
stick  you  pried  open  my  set  teeth,  and  poured 
some  of  it,  mixed  with  water,  into  my  mouth; 
strongly  you  rubbed  the  front  of  my  neck  and 
milked  it  down  my  throat.  Your  assistant  the 
while  was  pulling  open  the  fang  wounds  on  my 
ankle  with  his  finger  nail  and  dropping  in  drop 
by  drop  the  poison  killer,  that  it  might  follow 
up  the  very  course  taken  by  the  poison,  while 
another  was  with  the  same  magic  liquid  bathing 
the  leg  over  the  ascending  vein,  which  was  be- 
ginning to  feel  hard  and  ropy  all  the  way  up  to 
the  body. 

"The  commotion  had  all  ceased.  In  intense 
expectancy  the  fifty  people  around  watched  all 
that  you  did,  so  quietly  and  yet  so  confidently. 
You  had  my  arms  constantly  moved  back  and 

33 


The  Cobra's  Den 


forth,  also,  to  help  the  breathing,  you  said,  and 
that  gave  my  uncle  something  to  do  and  made 
him  less  anxious.  Half  an  hour  had  not  passed 
before  I  opened  my  eyes  and  asked  where  I  was, 
and  what  had  happened,  for  until  then  you  had 
been  constantly  repeating  the  doses  of  the  magic 
fluid.  Soon  I  sat  up,  and  the  power  of  the  poison 
was  gone.  What  wonderful  medicine  that  poi- 
son-killing liquid  is,  if  one  knows  how  to  use  it. 

"  In  an  hour,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  my  uncle, 
I  walked  to  the  house  of  my  great  aunt  in  the 
village  adjacent  to  which  your  tent  was  pitched. 
Several  times  that  day  and  in  the  evening  and  the 
next  morning  you  came  to  her  house  to  see  how 
1  got  on  and  to  administer  anything  further  that 
was  needed,  and  on  the  second  day  1  walked 
back  to  my  village  and  into  my  mother's  house, 
whence  I  had  been  carried  almost  a  corpse. 

"That  was  before  you  went  away  to  the  far- 
off  America  land  the  first  time.  I  saw  you  once 
after  your  return,  at  the  close  of  the  great  famine, 
and  gave  you  my  thanks;  but  now  for  fifteen 
years  and  more  I  have  not  beheld  your  face.  I 
am  alive  through  your  kindness  and  skill.  My 
wife  and  my  children  revere  your  name  and  in- 
voke blessings  on  your  head.  Five  months  ago 
I  heard  of  your  return  from  America  once  more, 

34 


The  Snake-Bitten  Hindu's  Story 

to  this  land  that  owes  you  so  much,  and  ever 
since  1  have  desired  to  see  you,  and  once  more 
tell  you  how  grateful  I  am  for  what  you  did  for 
me.  I  have  come  this  ten  miles  on  foot  through 
the  hills  to-day  once  more  to  see  your  face  and 
receive  your  benediction." 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  I  was  moved  by  the  re- 
cital, and  by  his  deep  and  reverential  gratitude  ? 
My  heart  yearned  toward  him  with  an  intense 
desire  to  do  him  still  more  good.  I  told  him  of 
the  "  Old  Serpent "  and  of  the  sting  of  sin ;  of  the 
Great  Physician  who  can,  who  surely  will  cure 
all  who  will  apply  to  Him ;  all  who  have  that  sin- 
venom  coursing  in  their  veins.  1  told  him  how 
we  are  all  spiritually  dead  from  this  poison;  how 
the  eyes  of  our  understanding  are  already  closed 
from  its  venom.  I  told  him  of  the  blood  of  Jesus, 
that  poison  killer  that  kills  the  sin-venom  and 
gives  life — yes,  eternal  life — to  every  one  who  ac- 
cepts its  application  and  by  faith  clasps  the  hand 
of  that  Jesus  Christ  as  his  personal  Saviour.  I 
pressed  him  with  earnest  words  to  come  to  that 
Jesus  Christ  now  and  receive  a  healing  far  more 
marvellous,  far  more  blessed  than  that  which,  by 
God's  help,  I  had  conferred  on  him.  He  went 
away  thoughtful  and  grateful.  The  fruitage  of 
this  interview — may  it  be  to  him  eternal  life. 

35 


Ill 


THE  ANGRY  MOB  AND  THE  STORY  OF  THE  CROSS 

"Swing  shut  the  city  gates;  run  and  tell  the 
sentinels  to  stand  guard  and  let  no  one  pass  in  or 
out  till  we  have  made  way  with  these  preachers 
of  other  gods.  No  news  shall  ever  go  out  of  the 
city  as  to  what  has  become  of  them." 

It  was  in  a  walled  city  of  some  20,000  inhab- 
itants in  the  Kingdom  of  Hyderabad,  within 
twenty  miles  of  its  capital,  as  we  were  on  a  gos- 
pel preaching  tour,  the  first  ever  made  through 
the  Kingdom  of  the  Nizam,  in  August,  1863, 
which  is  more  fully  spoken  of  in  "  In  The  Tiger 
Jungle." 

We  had  been  travelling  since  early  morning, 
preaching  in  all  the  towns  and  villages  on  our 
way,  and  arrived  before  the  gates  of  the  city 
during  the  heat  of  the  day,  and  camped  outside 
of  its  walls.  We  had  heard  of  it  as  the  wicked- 
est city  of  the  realm. 

About  three  p.  M.,  my  four  native  assistants  went 
into  the  city  to  offer  Scriptures  and  tracts  for  sale, 
I  promising  to  join  them  when  the  heat  should  be 

36 


Angry  Mob  and  Story  of  the  Cross 

a  little  less.  After  half  or  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  I  went  through  the  iron  gates,  the  largest 
and  strongest  city  gates  that  I  had  up  to  that 
time  seen.  The  city,  with  its  high  granite  walls 
lay  four  square,  with  a  gate  in  the  middle  of  each 
side,  and  the  main  streets  running  from  gate  to 
gate,  crossing  each  other  at  right  angles  at  the 
market-place. 

Just  after  entering  the  gate,  I  met  my  native  as- 
sistants returning,  with  a  hooting  rabble  follow- 
ing them.  Speaking  to  me  in  the  Tamil  lan- 
guage, not  understood  by  those  people,  they  told 
me  that  it  was  not  safe  to  attempt  to  do  any  work 
within  the  city.  They  had  sold  a  few  gospels 
and  tracts  to  both  Mohammedans  and  Hindus. 
The  Mohammedan  zealots  and  Brahman  priests 
had  been  diligently  examining  the  gospels  and 
saw  that  their  systems  must  go  if  these  Scriptures 
were  believed,  and  Mohammedans  and  Hindus 
joined  in  an  effort  to  stop  the  people  buying  and 
drive  the  catechists  out  of  the  city.  Herod  and 
Pilot  became  friends  for  this  purpose. 

Some  of  the  gospels  were  bound  in  yellowish 
buff  bookbinder's  muslin.  The  Mohammedans 
sent  messengers  running  through  the  streets  say- 
ing that  they  were  bound  in  hog  skin,  and  warn- 
ing the  faithful  not  to  touch  them.    The  Brah- 

37 


The  Cobra's  Den 


mans  sent  messengers  to  tell  the  Hindus  that  they 
were  bound  in  calf  skin,  the  skin  of  the  sacred 
cow,  and  telling  them  not  to  be  polluted  by 
them.  They  had  not  only  prevented  the  people 
from  buying  but  had  incited  the  rabble  to  drive 
the  catechists  out  of  the  city. 

"Have  you  preached  to  the  people?"  said  I 
0  the  catechists.  "Have  you  proclaimed  the 
gospel  message  ?  " 

"No,  sir,  we  have  only  sold  a  few  books  and 
tracts." 

"  Then  we  must  do  so  now.  Did  we  not,  be- 
fore we  left  our  home,  make  a  solemn  vow  that 
we  would  not  pass  a  single  town  or  village  with- 
out proclaiming  the  Master's  message,  and  have 
we  not  His  covenant,  '  Lo,  I  am  with  you '  ?  I 
at  least  must  go  to  the  market-place  and  preach. 
You  need  not  accompany  me  unless  you  think  it 
best." 

"We  did  make  that  vow.  We  will  go  with 
you,"  said  they. 

The  rabble  had  halted  and  quieted  as  they 
heard  the  foreigner  talking  with  the  catechists  in 
a  strange  tongue,  waiting  to  see  what  would 
come  of  it.  We  walked  with  slow  and  firm 
step  up  the  street  to  the  market.  The  crowd 
followed,  increasing  by  the  way.    Seeing  a  for- 

38 


Angry  Mob  and  Story  of  the  Cross 

eigner  with  the  catechists  boldly  walking  up  the 
street,  the  Brahman  and  Mohammedan  zealots 
joined  the  throng. 

We  reached  the  centre  of  the  town  where  the 
main  streets  crossed  and  where  was  the  market- 
place, v/ith  a  roof  supported  upon  large  masonry 
pillars.  Stepping  up  the  steps  I  said  in  Tamil  to 
the  catechists,  "Place  your  backs  against  these 
pillars,  so  that  no  one  can  attack  you  from  be- 
hind, and  keep  a  sharp  watch  on  all,  but  show 
no  signs  of  fear.  The  Master  is  with  us;  His 
promise  is  good." 

As  we  stood  there  we  could  see  three  of  the 
four  city  gates  standing  wide  open  with  the 
armed  gate-keepers  sitting  under  the  arch  of  the 
gateways.  Turning  I  spoke  politely  to  the  peo- 
ple in  Telugu,  which  was  understood  by  all. 

"Leave  this  place  at  once,"  was  the  angry  re- 
sponse. 

I  complimented  them  on  the  polite  reception 
which  they  gave  to  visitors,  telling  them  1  had 
visited  more  than  a  thousand  towns  in  the  Te- 
lugu country,  but  that  it  had  been  reserved  for 
them  to  show  the  most  polite  reception  that  1 
had  thus  far  received,  A  few  smiled,  but  the 
rest  only  scowled  the  more. 

"Friends,"  said  1,  "I  have  come  from  far  to 

39 


The  Cobra's  Den 


tell  you  some  good  news.  \  will  tell  that  to  you 
and  then  we  will  go." 

"No,"  said  some  who  were  evidently  leaders, 
"we  will  not  hear  you.  We  have  found  out 
that  you  have  come  to  proclaim  another  God. 
You  do  so  at  your  peril.  You  see  this  angry 
mob.  One  word  from  us  and  you  are  dead. 
Say  not  another  word  but  leave  the  city  instantly 
and  we  will  see  you  safely  out  of  the  gates. 
Dare  to  say  a  word  against  our  gods  and  we 
loose  this  mob  on  you." 

We  had  seen  the  angry  mob  tearing  up  the 
cobble  paving-stones  and  gathering  them  in  the 
skirts  of  their  garments  to  stone  us  with. 

"We  have  no  desire  to  abuse  your  gods,"  said 
I,  "but  have  come  to  deliver  a  message.  We 
will  not  go  until  we  have  proclaimed  that  mes- 
sage." 

Then  came  the  order,  "Swing  shut  the  gates." 

I  saw  one  nudge  another  saying,  "  You  throw 
the  first  stone  and  I  will  throw  the  second." 
But  all  who  had  stones  to  throw  were  within  my 
vision,  and  they  quailed  a  little  under  my  keen 
glance,  and  hesitated.  I  seemed  to  feel  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Master  as  though  He  were  standing 
by  my  side  with  His  hand  on  my  shoulder,  say- 
ing, "  1  am  with  you.    I  will  tell  you  what  to 

40 


Angry  Mob  and  Story  of  the  Cross 

say."  I  was  not  conscious  of  any  anxiety  about 
my  personal  safety.  My  whole  soul  was 
wrapped  up  in  the  thought  "  How  shall  1  get  my 
Master's  offer  of  salvation  before  these  people?" 

" Brothers,"  said  1,  "it  is  not  to  revile  your 
gods  that  I  have  come  this  long  way;  far  from 
it.  I  have  come  to  you  with  a  royal  message 
from  a  king  far  higher  than  your  Nizam;  I  have 
come  to  tell  a  story  sweeter  than  mortal  ear  has 
ever  heard.  But  it  is  evident  that  this  multitude 
does  not  wish  to  hear  it."  They  thought  that  1 
was  weakening  and  quieted  down  to  see  what 
was  going  to  happen. 

"  But,"  said  1,  "  I  see  five  men  before  me  who 
do  wish  to  hear  my  story.  Will  you  all  please  step 
back  a  little  ?  1  will  tell  these  five  who  want  to 
know  why  I  have  come  here  and  what  is  my  mes- 
sage, and  then  you  may  stone  me.  I  will  make 
no  resistance  then."  I  had  been  carefully  scan- 
ning the  crowd  and  had  selected  my  men,  for  I 
had  seen  five  honest  countenances  who  had 
shown  no  sympathy  with  the  abuse  that  had 
been  heaped  upon  us. 

"  Brother  with  the  red-bordered  turban,"  said 

1,  addressing  a  venerable  Brahman  who  stood 

among  the  people  at  the  right;  "you  would 

like  to  hear  what  my  wonderful  story  is,  before 
41 


The  Cobra's  Den 


they  stone  me,  would  you  not  ?  Be  frank  and 
say  so,  for  there  are  four  others  like  you  who 
wish  to  hear." 

"Yes,  sir,  1  would  like  to  hear  what  your 
story  is,"  said  he,  speaking  up  courageously  and 
kindly. 

"  Brother  with  the  gold-bordered  turban  at  my 
left,  you  too  would  like  to  hear,  and  you  with 
the  yellow  turban,  and  you  with  the  brown- 
bordered,  and  you  with  the  pink." 

I  had  rightly  judged  those  men,  for  each  as- 
sented. They  were  curious  to  know  what  1  had 
to  say. 

"Now  will  you  five  men  please  come  forward, 
and  I  will  tell  you  alone.  All  you  others  step 
back;  step  back;  as  soon  as  1  have  told  these  five 
the  story  you  may  come  forward  and  throw 
your  stones." 

The  five  came  forward;  the  rest  reluctantly 
stepped  back  a  little.  I  had  purposely  chosen 
Brahmans  as  I  thought  that  1  could  win  them  the 
better. 

"Brothers,"  said  I,  in  a  subdued  tone,  "what 
is  it  that  you  chant  as  you  go  to  the  river  for 
your  daily  ablutions  ?   Is  it  not  this, 

" '  Pap6ham,  p^pakarm&ham,  p&patma,  p&pa  sambhavaha, 
Trihi  mam,  Krupay&  D^va,  Sharan4  gata  vatsala,'  " 
42 


Angry  Mob  and  Story  of  the  Cross 

said  1,  chanting  it  in  Sanskrit,  "  and  is  not  this  its 
meaning,"  said  I  in  Telugu. 

"I  am  a  sinner,  my  actions  are  sinful.  My 
soul  is  sinful.  All  that  pertains  to  me  is  polluted 
with  sin.  Do  Thou,  O  God,  that  hast  mercy  on 
those  who  seek  Thy  refuge,  do  Thou  take  away 
my  sin." 

These  five  Brahmans  at  once  became  my 
friends.  One  who  correctly  chants  their  Vedas 
and  their  mantras  they  always  look  up  to  with 
respect. 

"Now,  do  you  know  how  God  can  do  what 
you  ask  ?  How  He  can  take  away  the  burden  of 
our  sin,  and  give  us  relief?" 

"No,  sir,  we  do  not  know.  Would  that  we 
knew." 

"  1  know;  I  have  learned  the  secret;  sh:Jl  I  tell 

you  ?" 

"Yes,  sir,  please  tell  us." 

The  multitude  seeing  the  Brahmans  convers- 
ing with  the  foreigner  with  evident  respect, 
quieted  still  more  and  pressed  forward  to 
listen. 

"Step  back,  step  back,"  said  I.  "It  is  only 
these  five  to  whom  I  am  to  tell  my  story.  If  the 
rest  of  you  listen  it  is  on  your  own  responsi- 
bility.   Step  back,  and  let  me  tell  these  five 

43 


The  Cobra's  Den 


alone."  This  only  increased  their  desire  to  hear, 
as  I  went  on: 

"Brothers,  is  it  possible  for  us  by  our  own 
acts  to  expiate  our  sins?  Can  we,  by  painful 
journeys  to  the  holiest  of  all  your  holy  places, 
change  those  sinful  natures  that  you  bemoan  ? 
Does  not  your  own  Telugu  Poet,  Vemana  say: 

"The  Muslim  who  to  Tirupati  goes,  on  pilgrimage, 
Does  not  thereby  become  a  saint  of  Siva's  house. 
Becomes  a  dog  a  lion  when  he  bathes  in  Ganges'  stream  ? 
Benares  turns  not  harlot  into  pure  and  trusted  wife." 

Hearing  their  own  language  chanted,  the  peo- 
ple pressed  forward  still  more  intently.  "Nay, 
brothers,  it  is  not  by  these  outward  acts  even  of 
utmost  austerity  that  we  can  attain  to  harmony 
with  God.  Does  not  your  beloved  Vemana  again 
say: 

"  'Tis  not  by  roaming  deserts  wild,  nor  gazing  at  the  sky ; 
'Tis  not  by  bathing  in  the  stream,  nor  pilgrimage  to  shrine ; 
But  thine  own  heart  must  thou  make  pure,  and  then,  and  then 
alone, 

Shalt  thou  see  Him  no  eye  hath  kenned,  shalt  thou  behold  thy 
King." 

"Now,  how  can  our  hearts  be  made  pure,  so 
that  we  may  see  God  ?  I  have  learned  the  secret, 
and  will  tell  you." 

Then  I  told  the  story  of  stories;  the  story  of 
redeeming  love;  and,  as  I  recounted  the  love  of 

44 


ngry  Mob  and  Story  of  the  Cross 

God  the  Father,  who  "  so  loved  the  world  ';  the 
birth  in  the  manger  of  Bethlehem  of  the  Lord  of 
Life  when  He  took  on  human  form;  His  won- 
derful life  here  below;  His  blessed  words;  His 
marvellous  deeds  of  healing  and  mercy,  the  mob 
became  an  audience.  Gradually  and  impercepti- 
bly I  had  raised  my  voice  until,  as  1  spoke  in  the 
clear  and  resonant  Telugu,  ail  down  those  three 
streets  the  multitude  could  hear,  and  as  1  told 
them  of  His  rejection  by  those  He  had  come  to 
save,  and  pictured  that  scene  on  Calvary',  in  the 
graphic  words  that  He  Himself  gave  me  that 
day,  when  for  us  men,  and  for  our  salvation.  He 
was  left  to  cry,  "My  God,  My  God,  why  hast 
Thou  forsaken  Me  ? "  and  told  them  that  it  was 
for  them  too,  far  away  here  in  India,  that  He  had 
suffered  this  agony  on  the  cross,  and  shed  His 
life-blood  and  died,  down  many  a  cheek  of  those 
who  had  beenclamouringfor  our  life,  1  saw  tears 
coursing  and  dropping  upon  the  pavements  that 
they  had  torn  up  to  stone  us  with.  Far  earlier  in 
the  story  1  had  seen  them  stealthily  dropping 
their  armfuls  of  stones  into  the  gutter,  and  come 
back  to  listen. 

How  they  listened  as  1  went  on  to  tell  them  of 
the  laying  of  His  body  in  the  tomb;  of  His  burst- 
ing the  bands  of  death,  on  the  morning  of  the 

45 


The  Cobra's  Den 


third  day,  and  coming  forth  triumphing  over  the 
last  enemy;  of  His  associating  for  many  days 
with,  and  His  teaching  His  disciples,  and  of  His 
ascension  from  Mt.  Olivet,  passing  up  through 
the  clouds  to  be  with  His  Father  and  our  Father, 
to  prepare  mansions  for  us,  and  told  them  that 
now  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  repent  and  forsake 
our  sins,  and  lift  up  the  voice  of  prayer  to  Him, 
for  He  could  understand  every  language,  and  say 
"O,  Jesus  Christ,  I  am  a  sinner.  1  cannot  get  rid 
of  my  sin,  but  Thou  canst  take  it  away:  take 
away  my  sin  I  pray  thee,  and  give  me  a  new 
heart,  and  make  me  Thy  disciple,"  and  that  He 
would  do  all  the  rest,  and  that  when  our  time 
should  come  to  die,  He  would  take  our  souls  to 
heaven  to  dwell  with  Him  in  bliss  eternal. 

"Now,"  said  I,  folding  my  arms,  and  standing 
before  them,  "1  have  finished  my  story.  You 
may  stone  me  now.  1  will  make  no  resist- 
ance." 

"No,  no,"  said  they,  "we  don't  want  to  stone 
you  now.  We  did  not  know  whose  messenger 
you  were,  nor  what  you  had  come  to  tell  us. 
Do  those  books  that  you  have  tell  more  about  this 
wonderful  Redeemer.?" 

"Yes,"  said  1,  "this  is  the  history  of  His  life 

on  earth;"  and  taking  up  a  gospel  of  Luke  I  read 
46 


Angry  Mob  and  Story  of  the  Cross 

brief  portions  here  and  there,  adding,  "I  have 
not  told  you  half  of  His  gracious  words  and 
deeds.  We  are  going  on  our  way  in  the  early 
morning.  Would  you  not  like  to  buy  some  of 
these  histories  of  the  Redeemer  Jesus,  so  that  you 
can  learn  all  about  Him,  even  though  we  have 
gone  our  way  ?  " 

With  that  their  wallets  were  produced  and 
they  purchased  all  we  had  of  the  gospel  of  Luke; 
taking  up  another  gospel  I  explained  that  the 
same  story  in  the  main  was  told  in  this,  with  dif- 
ferent words  and  incidents.  And  taking  a  tract 
I  told  them  that  these  explained  the  gospels,  and 
made  more  clear  the  way  of  life.  They  purchased 
all  the  gospels  and  tracts  we  had  with  us,  and 
appointed  a  deputation  of  their  best  men  to 
escort  us  to  our  camp,  begging  us  to  forgive 
them  for  the  insults  they  had  heaped  upon  us,  for 
they  knew  not  whose  messengers  we  were. 

Verily  the  story  of  the  cross  has  not  lost  its 
power.  It  still  reaches  the  ear  and  touches  the 
heart  of  men  of  every  tongue,  in  every  clime. 
Happy  we,  if  we  have  a  part  in  making  known, 
here  and  in  all  the  world  that  Story  of  The  Cross. 


47 


IV 


THE  surgeon's  KNIFE  DETHRONES  A  HINDU  IDOL 

It  was  a  busy  day  in  my  little  dispensary-hos- 
pital in  India,  150  miles  inland  from  Madras,  in  a 
region  where  up  to  that  time,  for  this  was  more 
than  thirty  years  ago,  no  European  surgery  nor 
medical  practice  had  been  known.  I  had  been 
sent  there  to  open  out  missionary  work  in  a  new 
region,  and  knew  of  no  better  way  of  "opening 
out  the  work"  and  gaining  the  confidence  and 
good-will,  yes,  and  love  of  the  people  than  by 
following  the  great  missionary  who  "went  about 
preaching  the  gospel  of  the  Kingdom  and  heal- 
ing all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  dis- 
ease among  the  people."  My  little  dispensary 
was  built  of  sun-dried  bricks  and  thatched  with 
rushes,  and  would  hold  from  seventy  to  one 
hundred  people,  besides  the  space  railed  off  for 
prescribing  and  dispensing  the  medicines.  In  the 
rear  was  a  little  thatched  veranda,  screened  with 
"tatties,"  for  surgical  operations. 

I  had  opened  the  door  as  the  sun  peeped  over 

the  horizon.    It  had  been  given  out  widely  that 
48 


Surgeon's  Knife  Dethrones  Hindu  Idol 

every  one  v.'ho  was  present  at  the  morning 
preaching  and  prayer  would  be  treated,  no  mat- 
ter how  long  it  took,  before  my  going  home  for 
breakfast,  and  at  sunrise  we  would  usually  find 
twenty  to  fifty  already  waiting  at  the  door.  A 
catechist  sat  at  the  door,  recording  the  name,  age 
and  residence  of  all  who  entered,  giving  each  one 
a  numbered  ticket,  on  the  back  of  which  was 
printed  a  clear,  succinct  statement  of  Christian 
truth,  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  I 
sat  at  my  prescribing  table,  receiving  the  patients 
in  the  order  in  which  they  had  come  in,  diagnos- 
ing each  case  and  prescribing  the  remedies. 
Each  one  thus  prescribed  for  sat  on  a  bench  at 
the  side  with  his  gospel  ticket  in  his  hand,  with 
his  name,  town  and  number  recorded  on  it,  read- 
ing the  statement  of  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ 
printed  on  the  back  of  the  ticket,  if  they  could 
read,  while  my  assistant  was  putting  up  his  or 
her  medicines,  for  among  the  farmer  and  artisan 
classes  women  as  well  as  men  came  for  treat- 
ment. As  the  medicines  were  prepared  they 
were  placed  in  a  row  on  a  shelf  at  my  right,  to 
be  explained  and  given  out  after  the  religious  ex- 
ercises. 

As  soon  as  the  room  was  well  filled,  half  an 
hour  or  more  after  the  opening,  I  would  push 

49 


The  Cobra's  Den 

aside  my  medicines  and  instruments,  and  tak- 
ing down  my  Telugu  Bible  read  from  "God's  Mes- 
sage to  Mankind,"  and  preach  the  gospel  of  the 
Kingdom,  one  day  setting  forth  one  lesson,  and 
another  a  different  one,  but  always  portraying 
man's  lost  condition,  and  full  and  free  salvation 
through  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  alone.  Then  tell- 
ing them  that  we  would  now  seek  the  blessing 
of  the  God  of  all  upon  us  all,  kneeling,  with  my 
assistants  reverently  kneeling  around  me,  I  would 
pray  to  Our  Father  to  bless  the  physician  in  pre- 
scribing for  the  sick,  guide  in  the  dispensing  of 
the  medicines  and  bless  the  medicines  so  as  to 
produce  a  perfect  cure,  and  that  the  Great  Phy- 
sician would  appear,  and  cure  the  malady  of  the 
soul  of  each  one  present.  There  was  always 
perfect  quiet  and  reverential  attention  during  the 
brief  prayer.  Immediately  at  its  close  the  medi- 
cines that  had  now  been  prayed  over  would  be 
given  out  to  those  already  treated,  and  then  the 
others  in  the  room  would  be  treated  in  turn  and 
medicines  given.  Surgical  cases  would  wait 
until  the  room  was  cleared,  or  if  severe  and  re- 
quiring chloroform,  be  told  to  come  in  the  after- 
noon when  I  would  have  more  time.  The  day 
of  which  I  speak,  nearly  loo  of  these  out  patients 
had  come  for  treatment,  besides  the  friends  who 

50 


Surgeon's  Knife  Dethrones  Hindu  Idol 

had  come  with  them,  and  who  also  heard  the 
gospel  message. 

I  had  nearly  completed  the  morning's  treat- 
ment. It  was  approaching  eleven  o'clock  and  I 
was  anxious  to  get  through  and  go  home  to 
breakfast,  when  I  heard  the  well-known  semi- 
chant  of  men  together  bearing  a  burden,  and 
looking  out  of  the  rear  door  I  saw  a  sick  man 
"borne  of  four,"  hung  in  a  blanket,  tied,  ham- 
mock-like, to  a  long  bamboo  which  rested  on 
the  shoulders  of  the  four  bearers. 

They  laid  him  down  gently  upon  the  floor  of 
the  back  veranda,  saying  that  they  had  brought 
him  two  days'  journey,  for  they  had  heard  that 
the  foreign  doctor  effected  marvellous  cures, 
and  this,  their  friend,  was  beyond  the  skill  of 
their  doctors.  With  them  there  had  come  an 
elderly  man,  led  by  another,  an  uncle  of  the  sick 
young  man,  who,  they  said,  had  recently  lost 
his  sight,  and  had  come  in  hoping  that  the  for- 
eign doctor  could  restore  it.  The  young  man 
was  in  a  deplorable  condition.  Nothing  but  a 
serious  surgical  operation  could  save  him.  I 
very  much  feared  that  it  was  now  too  late  for 
that, — that  if  it  were  attempted  he  would  sink 
under  the  operation.  So  doubtful  did  I  feel  as 
to  the  propriety  of  attempting  it  at  all,  that  I  sim- 

51 


The  Cobra's  Den 


ply  prescribed  a  restorative  for  him  and  for  his 
uncle,  and  told  them  to  give  them  nourishment 
and  let  them  rest  until  2  p.  m.,  when  I  would 
examine  them  and  see  what  could  be  done.  As 
soon  as  I  had  finished  the  other  patients  I  went 
home  to  breakfast  and  to  rest  a  little,  and  looked 
up  carefully,  in  my  surgical  books,  the  operation 
it  would  be  necessary  to  perform,  and  then  laid 
the  case  before  the  Master,  asking,  "Will  the 
man  endure  the  operation  }  shall  I  perform  it  ? 
or  shall  I  decline  to  perform  it  as  hopeless? 
Teach  me,  Master,  what  to  do."  1  seemed  to  re- 
ceive the  assurance  that,  desperate  as  the  case 
was,  it  would  prove  a  success,  and  that  it 
might  introduce  the  gospel  message  into  a  new 
region. 

Buoyed  up  by  this  felt  assurance,  I  went  at 
two  o'clock  and,  though  with  some  misgiving, 
performed  the  operation.  He  seemed  at  first  to 
have  sunk  under  it.  I  cried  to  the  Master  to 
help.  He  rallied  and,  to  my  great  joy,  improved 
day  by  day  and  finally  recovered.  The  treat- 
ment of  the  uncle  was  also  so  blessed  of  God 
that  he  recovered  his  sight.  When  at  last  1  told 
them  that  they  could  now  return  to  their  homes 
cured,  they  asked  if  they  might  come  to  my 

house  that  evening  to  express  their  thanks  and 
5-.2 


Surgeon's  Knife  Dethrones  Hindu  Idol 

say  good-bye,  and  they  would  then  start  with 
the  cock-crowing  of  the  coming  morning.  They 
came  to  my  house,  and  after  expressing  their 
gratitude  in  the  most  touching  and  truly  Oriental 
manner,  they  said, 

"Will  the  Dora  please  let  us  have  copies  of 
'The  Divine  Guru's  History'  (the  gospels)  from 
which  you  have  read  daily  in  the  hospital  and 
about  which  you  have  daily  preached,  and  some 
of  the  'Spiritual  Teaching'  (a  little  booklet 
clearly  explaining  the  way  of  salvation),  for  we 
want  to  take  them  home  that  our  friends  too 
may  know  the  glad  news  ?" 

" Can  you  read ? "  "No."  " Is  there  any  one 
in  your  village  who  can  read  ?"  "No,"  for  they 
were  weavers  and  farm  labourers,  and  it  is  not 
the  custom  for  them  to  be  readers. 

"Of  what  use,  then,  will  the  books  be  to 
you  ?" 

"O,  sir,  let  us  have  the  books  and  we  will  get 
them  read  to  us.  When  the  cloth  merchant 
comes  to  our  village  to  get  the  cloths  we  weave, 
we  will  put  one  of  these  little  books  into  his 
hands  and  say,  '  Here,  read  us  this  book  and 
then  we  will  talk  business,'  and  when  the  tax 
gatherer  comes  we  will  say,  '  Read  us  this  book 
and  then  we  will  settle  our  taxes.'   Only  let  us 

53 


The  Cobra's  Den 


have  these  books  and  we  will  see  that  they  are 
read  to  ail  our  village  people.  We  too  want  to 
hear  the  glad  sound  once  more,  for  we  are  never 
going  to  worship  our  old  gods  again.  We  will 
only  worship  the  Divine  Guru,  Yesu  Kristu  (Je- 
sus Christ),  who  sent  you  here  and  helped  you 
to  heal  us.  You  never  could  have  saved  us, — so 
desperate  a  condition  were  we  in, — unless  your 
God  had  helped  you.  Your  God  shall  be  our 
God  from  now  and  forever.  We  want  all  our 
village  to  know  and  love  Him  too.  Please  let  us 
have  the  books." 

The  books  were  given  them  gladly,  and  after 
farther  earnest  instruction  in  the  way  of  Jesus  and 
prayer  to  Him  with  and  for  them,  we  bade  them 
farewell,  saying,  "When  this  hot  season  is  over 
we  are  coming  out  with  our  tents  touring  and 
preaching  the  good  news  to  all  in  your  region. 
We  will  then  come  to  your  village  and  see  you 
and  see  your  people.  We  shall  hope  to  find  you 
all  believers  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

When  the  touring  season  began,  we  took  our 
tents,  myself  and  three  native  preachers,  and 
went  out  into  the  Taluk,  or  county,  named  in 
the  register,  and  preached  in  scores  of  towns  and 
hamlets,  but  could  hear  of  no  village  or  hamlet 
of  the  recorded  name.    We  were  much  disap- 

54 


Surgeon's  Knife  Dethrones  Hindu  Idol 

pointed.  We  had  lost  track  of  men  whom  I  had 
believed  to  be  in  earnest. 

Two  years  and  more  passed  by.  We  were 
again  out  touring,  in  a  county  or  Taluk  adjoin- 
ing the  one  where  these  men  had  been  recorded 
as  living.  Our  tents  were  pitched  near  a  village 
the  people  of  which  had  recently  renounced 
heathenism,  and  registered  themselves  as  dis- 
ciples of  the  Nazarene,  and  were  under  instruc- 
tion. In  the  central  market  town  of  the  region, 
a  mile  from  my  tent,  the  weekly  market  was 
that  day  to  be  held.  I  had  in  the  morning  treated 
all  the  many  sick  that  had  come  to  my  dispen- 
sary tent.  At  two  o'clock  we  were  all  of  us  to 
go  to  the  weekly  bazaar  to  preach  to  the  people 
who  came  together  from  fifty  villages  to  buy  and 
sell.  Before  that  hour,  however,  I  was  on  my 
bed  with  a  very  severe  pull  of  my  arch  enemy, 
the  jungle  fever,  and  could  not  rise.  My  assist- 
ants went  without  me. 

About  sunset  they  returned,  finding  me  on  my 
cot,  with  the  fever  still  burning,  and  said,  "O, 
sir,  we  have  had  such  an  interesting  time,  we 
had  a  succession  of  large  and  interested  audi- 
ences, and  at  the  close  two  men  came  up  and 
asked  earnestly,  'Are  you  the  Doctor  Padre's  peo- 
ple ?  and  is  he  here  ?   He  promised  to  come  and 

65 


The  Cobra's  Den 


see  us,  but  has  never  come.  We  want  him  to 
come,  for  we  are  all  of  us  ready  to  give  up  our 
idols  and  join  his  religion.'  " 

The  grip  of  my  fever  seemed  to  loosen  at  once 
with  this  news.  Springing  up,  I  said,  "Was 
not  one  of  the  two  men  a  thick-set,  dark  com- 
plexioned  young  man  under  thirty,  whose  name 
was  Ramudu  ?  and  was  not  the  other  a  tall,  fair 
complexioned  man  of  sixty,  and  his  name  Er- 
rapa  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  they,  "you  have  described 
the  men  and  given  their  names.  •  What  do  you 
know  about  them  ?  " 

"Those  are  the  men  that  we  were  trying  to 
find  more  than  two  years  ago  in  the  Kadiri 
Taluk.  A  mistake  must  have  been  made  in  re- 
cording the  name  of  their  Taluk.  Where  is  their 
village  ?  We  must  be  there  by  sunrise  to-mor- 
row morning." 

"It  is  three  or  four  miles  from  here,  at  the 
foot  of  those  hills,  but  you  are  not  able  to  go 
there  so  soon,  after  such  fever." 

"My  pony  can  carry  me.  Go  we  must.  For 
more  than  two  years  have  we  been  yearning  and 
praying  for  those  men.  No  time  is  to  be  lost 
now." 

At  four  o'clock  the  next  morning  we  rose,  had 

56 


Surgeon's  Knife  Dethrones  Hindu  Idol 

a  cup  of  coffee,  and  a  prayer  to  the  Master  to 
make  the  fifth  in  our  party,  or  rather  to  be  the 
first,  and  made  our  way  across  the  fields  and 
among  the  rocks.  As  we  approached  the  village 
the  sun  was  rising,  and  there,  under  the  "  Coun- 
cil-tree "at  the  head  of  the  little  village  street, 
were  gathered  nearly  all  of  the  men,  women  and 
children  of  the  hamlet,  for  they  had  seen  us 
coming  in  the  distance,  me  on  my  pony  and  my 
assistants  walking  at  my  side.  There,  with 
beaming  countenances,  were  my  two  patients, 
my  friends  of  three  years  ago. 

"We  are  all  ready  for  you,"  said  they. 
"Every  one  in  the  village  has  agreed  to  give  up 
his  idols,  if  you  will  put  a  teacher  here  to  teach 
us  how  to  follow  Jesus." 

We  preached  to  eager  listeners,  explaining  the 
way  of  God  more  perfectly  and  prayed  to  Jesus 
to  come  and  take  possession  of  every  heart. 
Soon  a  covenant  was  written  out  in  their  lan- 
guage and  signed  with  his  cross  mark  by  every 
head  of  a  house,  for  himself  and  family,  they  ab- 
juring heathenism,  renouncing  their  idols,  placing 
themselves  under  Christian  instruction,  promis- 
ing to  observe  the  Sabbath,  and  to  conform  to 
the  precepts  of  Christ  so  fast  as  they  were  taught 
them,  and  we  promising,  in  turn,  to  place  a 

57 


The  Cobra's  Den 


teacher  there  to  instruct  them  all,  to  teach  the 
children  to  read  God's  word  for  themselves,  and 
to  lead  them  in  the  Holy  Way. 

After  another  prayer  of  consecration  I  had 
mounted  my  pony  to  return  to  our  tent,  for  the 
heat  was  coming  on.  My  assistants  had  started 
a  shorter  way,  where  the  pony  could  not  go,  as 
I,  sitting  on  my  pony,  had  been  saying  a  few  last 
words.  Starting  on,  my  eye  was  attracted  to 
the  shrine,  or  little  village  temple  under  the  other 
side  of  the  Council-tree,  where  I  saw  half  a 
dozen  stone  idols,  great  and  small,  standing  on  a 
platform  at  the  inner  end  of  the  shrine. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  with  these  idols 
now.''"  I  asked,  turning  to  the  people. 

"Have  we  not  renounced  them?  They  are 
nothing  to  us  any  more." 

"But  are  you  going  to  leave  them  standing 
there  for  ignorant  people  to  worship  as  they  pass 
by?" 

"What  do  you  wish  us  to  do?  Would  you 
like  to  take  them  away  ?  You  are  welcome  to 
them.    We  don't  want  them  any  more." 

"1  would  like  to  take  one  of  them,"  said  I, 
thinking  to  test  the  people  as  to  their  giving 
them  up,  and  wishing  to  send  one  to  our  sup- 
porters at  home,  to  show  what  these  poor 

58 


Surgeon's  Knife  Dethrones  Hindu  Idol 

people  had  actually  been  worshipping,  and 
looked  to  see  if  I  could  call  to  one  of  my  native 
assistants  to  take  one  of  them.  No  one  knows 
the  dread  these  people  have  of  their  idols,  their 
gods,  and  though  they  had  renounced  them,  I 
did  not  like  to  put  them  to  so  severe  a  test,  and 
so  suddenly,  as  to  ask  one  of  them  himself  to  do 
physical  violence  to  the  idols  on  the  spot,  though 
I  knew  that  courage  would  come  in  time.  See- 
ing me  look  for  one  of  my  people,  and  divining 
my  intent,  Ramudu,  my  old  patient,  stepped  for- 
ward and  said,  "Do  you  want  one  now?  I'll 
bring  out  the  chief  Swami  (God)  and  give  you," 
and  going  and  reaching  in  he  shook  the  central 
and  largest  idol  loose  from  its  masonry  setting, 
brought  it  out,  and,  as  he  reached  it  up  to  me  on 
my  pony,  paused  a  moment  and,  looking  at  it, 
addressed  it  somewhat  thus,  speaking  in  his  own 
language: 

"Well,  old  fellow!  be  off  with  you!  We  and 
our  ancestors  for  a  thousand  years  have  feared 
and  worshipped  you.  Now  we  have  found  a 
better  God,  and  are  done  with  you.  Be  off  with 
you  and  a  good  riddance  to  us.  Jesus  is  now 
our  God  and  Saviour."  So  speaking  he  handed 
him  up  to  me  as  I  sat  on  my  horse,  and  now  that 
idol  adds  interest  to  a  missionary  museum  in  the 

69 


The  Cobra's  Den 


home  land,  as  he  sits  among  the  dethroned  dei- 
ties conquered  by  King  Immanuel. 

When,  after  a  few  months  of  further  instruc- 
tion, it  was  my  privilege  to  baptise  those  people 
into  the  name  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  I  rejoiced  greatly  that  they  had, 
meantime,  proved  their  faith  by  standing  firm 
through  the  fiery  trial  of  persecution  which  had 
burst  upon  them  for  deserting  their  ancient  faith, 
and  1  thanked  God  that  the  surgeon's  knife  had 
proved  in  that  case,  as  in  others  I  know  of,  the 
effective  instrument  in  dethroning  some  of  India's 
so-called  gods. 

Out  of  the  more  than  1,000,000  towns  and 
villages  in  India,  in,  perhaps,  250,000  of  them, 
through  the  agency  of  the  surgeon's  knife,  the 
physician's  prescription,  the  little  village  school 
established  for  adherents'  children,  the  mission 
high  school,  the  Christian  college,  the  schools 
for  Hindu  girls,  the  Zenana  workers,  the  Bible 
women,  the  colporteurs  and  the  Christian  preach- 
ers, from  the  missionary  and  native  pastor  to  the 
catechist  and  reader,  has  the  salvation  of  Jesus 
the  Christ  been  made  known,  though  as  yet 
accepted  in  comparatively  few  of  them. 

But  for  the  750,000  towns  and  villages  in  which 

60 


Surgeon's  Knife  Dethrones  Hindu  Idol 

no  evangelistic  work  is  going  on,  where  rests  the 
responsibility  ?  Where  rests  the  responsibility 
for  China  and  for  all  heathendom  ?  Where,  but 
on  that  Church  of  God  in  Christian  lands  to 
whom  was  given  the  express  order,  "  Go  ye  into 
all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature."  Where,  but  on  you,  O  individual 
Christian,  on  whom  the  obligation  lies  to  go  or 
send  ?  Each  dollar  that  you  give  now  may  save 
a  soul.  Each  $100  may  plant  the  gospel  in  one 
more  village. 

For  thine  own  salvation  "  How  much  owest 
thou  thy  Lord  ? "  Take  thy  bill  and  write 
quickly,  and  then  to  the  extent  of  thine  ability, 
if  not  of  thy  debt,  join  hands  with  Him,  the 
Great  Missionary,  who  left  His  home  land  for 
this  heathen  world, — who  saved  thee, — join 
hands  with  Him,  thy  Prince  Immanuel,  in  prose- 
cuting that  work  which  He  came  to  inaugurate — 
the  salvation  of  the  whole  world.  Fill  the  treas- 
ury of  thy  Church's  Board;  send  thy  sons;  send 
thy  daughters,  and  in  the  Christians'  home  wear 
thou  not  the  starless  crown. 


61 


V 


YES  OR  NO?    INSTRUCTIONS  WANTED 

By  the  last  mail  1  received  an  intimation  that 
some  persons  in  our  home  Church  are  not  alto- 
gether pleased  when  news  comes  of  accessions 
in  our  mission  fields,  for  the  reason  that  it  costs 
to  sustain  the  enlarged  work.  Some  four  months 
ago  it  was  my  privilege  to  send  home  news  that 
several  villages,  or  hamlets,  in  the  region  of 
Madanapalle  had  cast  off  their  idols,  renounced 
their  false  gods,  and  placed  themselves  under 
Christian  instruction. 

Several  schoolhouse-chapels  were  at  once 
erected,  costing  as  much  as  fifty  dollars  apiece. 
Some  additional  readers  and  teachers  were  em- 
ployed, drawing  a  salary  of  as  much  as  four 
dollars  and  a  half  a  month  each,  that  the  chil- 
dren might  be  taught  by  day,  and  the  adults  be 
gathered  each  evening  and  each  Sunday,  and  in- 
structed in  the  way  of  the  Lord  more  perfectly; 
and  certain  prudent  heads  were  shaken,  so  I  in- 
fer from  what  I  have  heard,  by  prudent  people, 
who  did  not  know  whether  our  Church  was 
prepared  to  receive  such  an  increase  to  her  work 
and  her  responsibilities. 

62 


The  Cobra's  Den 


Now  I  am  in  a  quandary.  Who  will  tell  me 
what  I  am  to  do  ?  To-day  1  have  received  a 
written  application  from  the  inhabitants  of  four 
hamlets  in  another  direction  to  be  taken  under 
Christian  instruction.  They  promise  to  pitch 
their  idols  overboard;  to  cease  working  on  the 
Sabbath;  to  give  up  everything  hostile  to  Chris- 
tianity; to  live  according  to  its  holy  precepts,  so 
far  as  in  them  lies,  and  beg  me  to  send  some  one 
to  tell  them  what  those  precepts  are.  Shall  I  do 
it,  or  shall  1  not  ? 

They  are  poor.  So  were  those  who  came  over 
five  months  ago,  but  they  have  most  of  them 
stood  firm  and  have  grown  in  grace.  They  have 
been  abused;  have  been  threatened;  their  work 
has  been  interfered  with;  four  of  them  in  differ- 
ent villages  have  been  assaulted  and  beaten,  one 
of  them  so  that  it  was  feared  for  some  hours  that 
he  would  not  survive,  simply  because  they  re- 
fused to  abjure  their  faith  in  their  new-found 
Saviour.  And,  on  top  of  it  all,  these  four  hamlets 
ask  me  to  take  them  under  instruction  and  re- 
ceive them  to  the  fellowship  of  such  abuse. 

What  answer  shall  1  give  them  ?  Consider 
well  before  advising  me;  for  it  will  cost  money. 
It  may  interfere  with  the  erection  of  a  $100,000 
church  in  New  York  for  me  to  spend  fifty  dollars 

63 


Yes,  or  No?    Instructions  Wanted 


in  erecting  a  church  for  these  inquirers  in  these 
new  villages.  It  may  interfere  with  the  endow- 
ment of  a  $60,000  professorship  at  home  if  I 
spend  seven  dollars  a  month  in  supporting  a 
catechist  to  show  these  seeking  ones  the  way  to 
heaven.  It  may  complicate  the  arrangement  for 
a  $400  trip  to  the  Yosemite  Valley,  or  a  $200  trip 
to  the  White  Mountains,  or  a  $1,000  trip  to 
Europe  next  summer,  if  I  ask  one  of  the  city 
merchants  to  increase  his  subscription  by  five 
dollars  per  month  to  support  a  school,  in  order 
that  the  children  may  be  suffered  to  come  unt© 
Jesus.  So  would  it  not  be  better,  on  the  whole, 
for  me  to  tell  this  deputation  that  the  Home 
Church  cannot  afford  to  have  any  more  of  them 
become  Christians  ? 

There  was  a  time,  I  believe,  when  the  Church 
really  wished  to  establish  and  sustain  missions  in 
India  and  China  and  Japan.  Is  she  frightened 
now  that  the  child  begins  to  grow  ?  And  does 
she  wish  to  starve  her  Eastern  children  to  death, 
because,  forsooth,  it  will  take  so  much  milk  to 
rear  them  up  to  manhood?  Does  she  wish  to 
gain  the  credit  of  having  missions  in  three  great 
empires  of  the  East,  without  bearing  the  burden 
of  their  support  ? 

God  forbid;  and  yet  the  voice  that  speaks  to 

(54 


The  Cobra's  Den 


us  month  by  month,  through  the  columns  of 
"Receipts  for  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions," 
would  almost  lead  a  disinterested  observer  to 
form  such  a  conclusion,  and  the  retrenchments 
and  curtailments  that  we  on  the  ground  have 
been  compelled  to  make  year  by  year  leave  us 
little  spirit  to  rebut  the  charge. 

We  go  on  with  our  itinerating;  we  preach  the 
gospel  of  glad-tidings  in  the  highways  and  by- 
ways. When  those  to  whom  we  have  preached 
come  forward  and  say:  "Sir,  we  are  convinced 
of  the  truth  of  what  you  say;  please  receive  us 
under  instruction  and  train  us  for  your  heaven," 
shall  we  say,  "  Hold  on,  don't  be  too  fast.  The 
Home  Church  can't  afford  to  have  you  believe 
quite  so  soon  "  ? 

Little  does  the  church  at  home  know  the  bur- 
den she  is,  and  has  been,  putting  on  her  mission- 
aries by  her  attitude  of  the  past  few  years.  We 
wish  now  to  know  what  we  are  to  do.  Shall 
we  gather  in  the  fruit  of  what  we  sow,  or  shall 
we  not?  Shall  we  receive  under  instruction 
those  who  apply,  or  shall  we  tell  them  to  go  back 
to  their  idols  and  feed  on  ashes  until  the  Home 
Church  feels  better  able  to  enlarge  its  work  ?  We 
want,  through  the  column  of  Receipts  for  the 

Foreign  Board,  an  explicit  answer — Yes  or  No. 

Cyr> 


VI 


THOSE  TORN-UP  GOSPELS 

Vayalpad  is  the  Taluk  town  of  the  Taluk,  or 
county  town  of  the  county,  of  Vayalpad,  in 
India,  i6o  miles  northwest  of  Madras.  It  is  a 
town  of  not  more  than  6,000  or  7,000  inhabi- 
tants, but  has  been  rather  a  wealthy  place  for 
its  size,  having  a  good  many  goldsmiths  ply- 
ing their  profitable  trade.  There  is  also  a  noted 
Hindu  temple  with  a  large  number  of  Brahman 
priests  attached;  and  more  than  forty  villages, 
within  a  radius  of  four  miles,  cluster  around  it  as 
a  centre.  It  is  thus  a  place  of  importance  in  that 
region.  What  its  people  do,  the  surrounding 
villagers  are  likely  to  follow. 

In  July,  1865,  three  of  us  missionaries  went 
there  on  a  gospel-preaching  and  Bible-distribut- 
ing tour.  Two  years  before  I  had  gone  up  into 
that  Telugu  country,  and  established  a  new  sta- 
tion at  Madanapalle,  the  Taluk  town  of  the  ad- 
joining Taluk,  and  with  my  native  assistants  had 
been  busy,  in  preaching  the  gospel  and  introduc- 
ing the  Scriptures,  as  far  as  possible,  in  its  multi- 

66 


Those  Torn-Up  Gospels 

tudinous  villages.  But  now,  anxious  to  carry  the 
gospel  into  the  adjacent  Taluk,  I  had  asked  two 
other  missionaries  of  our  mission,  with  several 
native  assistants  to  join  me,  that  we  might  make 
a  strong  impression  upon  the  people  to  whom 
we  were  bringing  the  gospel  news  for  the  first 
time. 

We  pitched  our  tents  in  a  grove  just  out  of  the 
town,  which  was  built  compactly,  with  houses 
joining  one  another,  as  in  the  crowded  streets  of 
a  large  city. 

The  next  morning  at  sunrise  we  went  into  the 
chief  street  to  preach.  The  streets  were  neatly 
swept  from  house-wall  to  house-wall,  for  there 
are  no  sidewalks  in  their  not  over-broad  streets. 
In  front  of  each  door  the  street  was  sprinkled 
with  cow-dung  water,  which  they  use  for  purifi- 
cation, and  white  ornamental  figures  had  been 
made  on  the  ground,  by  the  women  of  the  house- 
hold allowing  finely  powdered  lime  to  run  through 
their  fingers  as  they  deftly  moved  their  hands 
around,  to  form  each  her  favorite  design. 

Little  was  going  on  in  the  early  morning  as  we 
went  into  the  street,  but  the  presence  of  several 
foreigners  and  their  companions  was  soon  noted, 
and  when  we  took  our  stand,  and  in  chorus  sang 
a  gospel  song  to  one  of  their  old  familiar  native 

67 


The  Cobra's  Den 

tunes,  an  audience  soon  filled  the  streets  where 
we  were.  After  reading  a  portion  from  the  gos- 
pel of  Luke  in  the  Telugu  language,  one  of  the 
native  preachers  first  addressed  the  audience,  and 
one  of  us  missionaries  followed  setting  forth  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  of  whom  we  had  read  in  the  gos- 
pel, as  the  Saviour  of  all  men,  of  every  land,  of 
every  language,  of  every  race,  if  they  will  only  be- 
lieve on  Him,  and  accept  His  salvation  as  a  free 
gift.  The  audience  listened  quietly,  but  with  evi- 
dent questionings  and  incredulity.  We  offered  our 
gospels  and  tracts  gratuitously,  but  only  a  very  few 
were  accepted,  and  that  with  no  eagerness.  We 
bade  our  audience  a  polite  farewell,  and  went  back 
to  our  tents.  That  evening  we  went  out  preaching 
in  some  of  the  villages  beyond  the  town,  and  on 
returning  through  the  Bazaar  street,  just  at  dusk, 
we  noticed  bits  of  torn  leaves  of  Scriptures  and 
tracts  scattered  up  and  down  the  street.  As  we 
entered  our  tent  one  of  my  brother  missionaries 
said  to  me  in  a  wearied,  somewhat  dispirited 
tone,  "  What  is  the  use  of  our  doing  this  ?  The 
people  here  have  no  desire  to  listen.  They  only 
tear  up  and  throw  away  the  Scriptures  and  tracts 
that  we  give  them.  Those  books  we  gave  this 
morning  are  all  wasted." 

"Not  so,"  said  1,  "some  of  the  books  have 

68 


Those  Torn-Up  Gospels 

been  torn  up,  but  it  strikes  me  that  only  a  few, 
and  the  fragments  of  them  diligently  scattered  for 
the  purpose  of  producing  the  impression  that  all 
have  been  destroyed.  This  is  a  part  of  my  par- 
ish, and  1  am  going  to  test  this.  Those  torn  bits 
will  attract  attention  to  the  books.  They  may 
serve  as  seed  corn.    I  shall  watch." 

By  eight  o'clock  the  streets  were  deserted,  and 
I  sent  one  of  our  men  out  to  gather  up,  by  moon- 
light, sample  bits  of  the  torn  leaves  in  all  parts  of 
the  street.  He  brought  them  in  and  on  a  careful 
examination  we  found  that  they  were  all  parts  of 
the  gospel  of  Luke,  or  of  a  large  tract,  explaining 
the  gospels.  One  of  each  had  evidently  been 
torn  up,  and  well  scattered. 

Before  moving  our  tent  back  into  our  own 
Taluk  to  carry  on  our  touring  there,  we  preached 
in  thirty-seven  of  the  villages  of  that  group. 

It  was  four  years  before  I  could  again  get 
around  to  Vayalp^d.  During  the  interval  we  had 
preached  in  several  thousand  towns  and  villages 
in  other  directions.  In  a  single  year  myself  and 
three  native  assistants  had  visited  1.061  different 
villages,  all  within  twenty  miles  of  Madanapalle, 
and  now  we  were  able  to  pitch  our  camp  again 
in  the  grove  not  far  from  the  great  temple  at 
VayalpSd. 

69 


The  Cobra's  Den 


I  went  with  my  native  assistants  into  the  same 
street  to  preach.  The  street  was  filled  with  an 
audience.  This  time  they  listened  closely,  and 
discussed  the  points  at  issue  with  zeal.  At  the 
close  we  offered  them  the  same  gospels  and 
tracts,  but  now  on  sale.  We  declined  to  give 
away  any.  A  number  of  the  more  intelligent 
part  of  the  audience  produced  their  wallets  and 
purchased.  They  came  to  our  tent  for  further 
conversation,  and  bought  more  Scriptures,  and 
when,  after  again  preaching  in  the  surrounding 
villages,  we  moved  our  camp  we  found  that  we 
had,  on  this  visit,  sold  there  253  Scriptures  and 
tracts.  ' '  That  seed  corn  is  sprouting, "  I  said,  and 
I  thanked  God  and  took  courage. 

Where  one  missionary's  field  or  parish  is  the 
size  of  the  state  of  Connecticut,  with  a  still  larger 
population,  it  is  impossible  to  traverse  the  whole 
ground  often.  It  was  now  1883.  1  had,  mean- 
time, visited  the  place  repeatedly,  each  time  re- 
ceiving a  more  kindly  welcome.  The  people  of 
an  adjoining  hamlet  of  day  labourers  had  given  in 
their  names  renouncing  heathenism,  and  repeat- 
edly asked  to  be  taken  under  Christian  instruction. 
1  had  at  last  sent  a  catechist  there  to  instruct  them. 
His  coming  was  the  occasion  of  a  remarkable 
movem'"H  among  the  people  of  Vayalpad.  It 

70 


Those  Torn-Up  Gospels 

reminded  them  of  our  previous  visit;  of  the  Di- 
vine message  that  we  had  delivered  to  them;  of 
the  Scriptures  we  had  distributed.  It  set  them 
talking  of  Christianity  and  of  the  Bible,  and  of 
the  effect  it  had  upon  the  lives  of  its  adherents, 
and  their  earnest  talking  led  them  to  form  a  sin- 
gular resolution.  This  resolution  was  embodied 
in  a  petition  which  they  sent  to  me  by  a  special 
messenger.  The  details  of  this  petition  and  the 
action  that  followed  are  given  in  the  following 
chapter. 


71 


VII 


THE  HINDU  judge's  OPINION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

It  was  in  December,  1883,  that  I  received  the 
very  singular  petition  referred  to  in  the  last 
chapter.  It  v^'as  signed  by  some  of  the  most 
influential  inhabitants  of  the  Taluk  town  of 
Vayalpad.  It  asked  that  I  should  receive  under 
my  care  the  Anglo-Telugu  school  of  100  pupils 
which  they  had  established  the  previous  year,  to 
educate  their  sons,  and  organize  it  as  a  mission 
school,  introducing  the  Bible  into  all  the  classes 
as  a  Text-Book.  Not  one  of  the  petitioners 
was  a  Christian. 

Much  surprised  at  the  tenor  of  the  request,  I 
went  out  there  at  once  to  meet  the  people,  and 
see  whether  they  were  sincere  in  making  the 
request,  and  whether  the  supporters  of  the 
school  were  unanimous  in  the  matter.  On  my 
arrival  a  meeting  of  all  those  interested  in  the 
school  was  held.  The  request  was  publicly 
presented  to  me  in  the  same  terms,  namely, 
that  I  would  receive  the  school  under  my  care 
and  management,  and  would  introduce  the  Bible 

72 


Hindu  Judge's  Opinion  of  the  Bible 

as  a  Text-Book  into  each  class,  to  be  studied 
daily  in  English  in  the  higher  classes  and  in 
Telugu  in  the  lower. 

The  head  master  of  the  school,  a  Brahman, 
himself  educated  in  a  mission  school,  explained 
to  those  of  the  supporters  of  the  school  who  had 
not  been  present  before,  the  advantage  of  having 
the  school  under  the  charge  of  a  missionary,  and 
of  studying  the  Bible,  reminding  them  that  he 
spoke  from  experience. 

He  was  followed  by  the  District  Munsif,  or 
native  judge  of  the  district  court,  a  native  gen- 
tleman of  excellent  character  and  education. 
Though  using  English  fluently,  he  spoke  in 
Telugu,  so  as  to  be  understood  by  all,  speaking 
substantially  as  follows: 

"  My  friends,  I  was  not  educated  in  a  mission 
school,  but  I  have  many  friends  who  were,  and 
who  studied  the  Bible  daily  in  school.  I  have 
witnessed  its  effects  upon  their  lives.  I  have 
read  the  Bible  myself  privately  a  good  deal.  I 
have  come  to  know  the  pure  and  beautiful 
system  of  morality  it  inculcates.  My  friends, 
there  is  nothing  in  our  Vedas  that  can  compare 
with  it,  as  1  well  know  from  careful  examination. 
Let  your  sons  study  the  Bible.  They  need  not 
become  Christians.    There  is  no  compulsion 

73 


The  Cobra's  Den 


about  it.  The  missionaries  never  force  any  one. 
But  if  you  want  your  sons  to  become  noble, 
upright  men,  put  this  school  under  the  charge 
of  the  missionary,  and  have  the  Bible  taught  in 
it  daily.  It  will  make  your  sons  better  men,  and 
you  will  be  happier  parents. 

"My  friends,  I  have  but  one  son,  as  you  know. 
On  him  all  my  hopes  are  centred.  You  know  I 
am  able  to  send  him  where  I  please  for  his 
education.  But  I  want  him  to  be  a  noble, 
earnest  man.  I  have  therefore  sent  him  to  the 
Madras  Christian  College,  to  be  educated,  and 
there  he  studies  the  Bible  with  the  missionaries 
every  day.  This  tells  you  what  /  think  of  the 
mission  schools  and  of  the  Bible.    I  have  done." 

By  unanimous  vote  the  school  was  put  under 
the  charge  of  our  mission,  and  no  lessons  are 
studied  with  more  fidelity  than  are  the  daily 
Bible  lessons,  under  a  Christian  teacher.  No 
examinations  are  more  creditably  passed  than 
those  on  the  Bible  by  those  heathen  boys.  And 
now,  in  addition  to  their  daily  lessons,  a  purely 
voluntary  Sunday-school  of  sixty  lads  and  young 
men  has  been  formed,  who  meet  every  Sabbath 
morning  for  the  study  of  the  deeper  spiritual 
meaning  of  this  word  of  God.  God  grant  that 
they  may  get  more  good  from  the  study  of  the 

74 


Hindu  Judge's  Opinion  of  the  Bible 

Book  than  they  expected  when  they  asked  that 
it  be  given  them  to  study. 

Those  torn-up  gospels  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  have  indeed  borne  a  rich  fruitage, 
for  were  they  not  the  word  of  Him  who  said, 
"  It  shall  not  return  unto  Me  void,  but  it  shall 
prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it." 


76 


VIII 


MARKETING  THE  BIBLE 

The  missionary  among  the  heathen  who  does 
not  engage  in,  and  foster  Bible  colportage  is  a 
misfit.  As  well  sow  the  rice  fields  on  the  arid 
plains  of  India  with  no  arrangements  for  their 
subsequent  irrigation.  Paul  plants;  Apollos 
waters;  God  gives  the  increase.  If  the  ver- 
nacular preaching  in  the  towns,  and  the  villages, 
the  highways  and  the  byways  is  Paul,  then  col- 
portage, which  leaves  the  divine  word  in  the 
gospel  and  the  tract  is  Apollos,  left  to  water  the 
seed  the  living  voice  has  sown,  and  we  may  de- 
pend on  God's  giving  the  increase. 

We  may  not  see  it;  we  may  never  know  it, 
but  "My  word  shall  not  return  unto  Me  void," 
said  one  who  fulfills  His  word.  Many  a  soul 
will  be  found  in  glory  from  those  dark  lands  of 
the  earth  whom  no  missionary,  whom  no  other 
Christian  has  ever  seen,  brought  there  by  some 
gospel  or  tract,  scattered  by  some  missionary  or 
his  colporteur;  seed  which  they  in  their  ignorance 
suppose  to  have  been  choked  by  the  thorns,  but 

76 


A  HINDU  STREET  SCENE 


Marketing  the  Bible 

which  the  Divine  Eye  has  seen  to  produce  fruit, 
in  spite  of  its  thorny  surroundings. 

Downright  earnest  effort  on  the  part  of  a  mis- 
sionary in  doing  Bible  colportage  work  himself, 
as  often  as  other  duties  will  at  all  allow,  and  in 
keeping  native  colporteurs  vigorously  at  work, 
stimulating  them  by  his  own  methods  and  ex- 
ample, will  royally  pay  him. 

What  I  mean  can,  perhaps,  best  be  set  forth 
by  giving  an  illustration  from  my  own  ex- 
perience. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago  I  took  a  preaching 
and  Bible  distributing  journey  through  regions  up 
to  that  time  never  visited  by  a  missionary,  largely 
at  the  expense  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 

My  party  consisted  of  four  native  assistants 
and  myself,  all  of  us  preachers,  all  of  us  colpor- 
teurs. We  started  with  two  cart  loads  of  Scrip- 
tures, Bibles,  New  Testaments,  gospels,  tracts,  or 
booklets,  explaining  the  gospels,  and  setting  forth 
clearly  the  way  of  life,  in  the  five  languages  we 
were  to  encounter,  each  of  which  could  be  used 
by  some  of  us,  for  we  could  each  of  us  preach  in 
two  or  more,  but  chiefly  in  the  Telugu  language, 
for  it  was  through  the  Telugu  country  that  most 
of  our  journey  led. 

We  came,  one  day,  more  than  400  miles  from 

77 


The  Cobra's  Den 


our  starting-point,  to  the  old  capital  of  the  an- 
cient Telugu  empire,  Warangal,  which  was  in 
its  glory  when  Columbus  discovered  America, 
containing  then  near  1,000,000  inhabitants,  the 
city's  walls  being  twenty  miles  in  circuit.  About 
the  time  of  Columbus  the  Mohammedan  invaders 
conquered  the  Telugu  empire,  and  their  capital, 
ere  long,  fell  into  ruin,  although  the  old  iron  gates 
of  the  citadel  were,  when  I  visited  it,  still  swing- 
ing in  the  gateway  of  the  massive  granite  walls. 
Within  the  old  city  circuit  are  now  eight  de- 
tached towns,  and  villages,  of  more  or  less  im- 
portance. 

We  stopped  there  four  days  to  preach  and  sell 
Scriptures  and  tracts.  At  sunrise  each  morning 
we  took  several  boxes  of  books  in  a  long,  low- 
bodied  open  bandy,  or  cart,  drawn  by  bullocks, 
and,  mounting  it  ourselves,  drove  into  the  streets 
of  one  of  those  towns.  Stopping  in  the  centre 
of  a  street,  and  all  standing  up  in  the  cart,  we 
joined  in  singing  a  "Gospel  Call,"  in  one  of  the 
old  Telugu  melodies,  weird  and  sweet,  that  have 
come  down  through  a  dozen  generations.  The 
words,  in  English,  would  read,  "O,  come, 
brothers,  come  and  listen  to  the  story  of  Jesus 
and  His  love.    Come,  for  the  dread  day  of  death 

and  the  judgment  are  fast  drawing  nigh.  Come, 
78 


Marketing  the  Bible 

for  Jesus  is  ready  to  take  away  all  your  sins,  and 
give  you  eternal  life.  Come,  brothers,  come, 
and  listen  to  the  story  of  Jesus  and  His  love." 

An  audience  soon  assembled.  One  of  my  as- 
sistants would  read  from  one  of  the  gospels,  and 
explain  it.  Then  I  would  preach,  standing  in  the 
cart  so  as  the  better  to  be  seen  and  heard  by  all  the 
crowd,  and  often  half  a  thousand  people  would 
gather  round  before  we  had  done. 

After  presenting  as  clearly  and  forcibly  as  I 
could  God's  plan  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ 
His  own  Son,  who  came  and  suffered  for  us,  I 
said  to  them,  "  Brothers!  We  have  come  a  long 
way  to  tell  you  of  this  Divine  Redeemer.  We 
are  to  go  on  farther  shortly.  We  have  brought 
with  us  the  history  of  the  Redeemer,  the  gospels, 
and  the  whole  'True  Veda,'  the  Bible,  and  little 
books  explaining  this  'new  way  of  life."  We 
will  sell  them  to  you  for  a  very  small  price,  that 
you  may  keep  them  to  read  after  we  have  gone 
on;  for  surely  you  will  want  to  know  how  to 
obtain  the  love,  the  favor,  the  salvation  of  this 
Jesus  the  Saviour,  the  remission  of  sins,  the 
eternal  life  that  He,  and  He  alone  can  give.  Here 
is  the  story  of  that  Redeemer,  written  by  Luke, 
the  physician.  The  price  is  only  one  dub,  (about 
one  cent).   Who  will  have  one  ?  " 

79 


The  Cobra's  Den 


Out  come  the  little  wallets;  up  are  passed  the 
dubs  ;  out  are  passed  the  copies  of  Luke's  gospel. 
Down  from  the  cart  spring  three  of  the  native  as- 
sistants, with  each  a  package  of  the  gospels  in 
his  arms,  and  work  their  way  through  the  crowd 
selling  as  they  go,  while  we  sell  on  the  cart. 
After  some  twenty  minutes  I  take  up  a  tract  of 
the  size  of  a  gospel,  explaining  the  way  of  salva- 
tion. Reading  a  page  from  it  and  explaining  it, 
I  offer  that  for  sale.  Up  come  more  dubs,  and 
out  go  the  tracts.  Then  the  Bible  is  read  from, 
and  once  more  the  plan  of  salvation  is  set  forth, 
and  the  Bible  is  offered  for  sale  for  fifty  dubs, 
and  then  the  New  Testament  for  twenty,  and 
each  of  the  other  gospels  and  tracts,  in  turn,  is 
read  from  and  sold. 

When  all  had  purchased  that  wished  to  in  that 
street,  we  would  drive  into  another  and  repeat 
the  process  and  so  again  until  ten  or  eleven 
o'clock,  when  we  would  return  to  our  camp  and 
rest  until  four  p.  m.  Then  we  would  start  in  an- 
other village,  or  another  part  of  the  town.  Four 
days  of  this  work  resulted,  as  my  records  show, 
in  the  disposal  of  1,22s  books,  chiefly  gospels 
and  large  tracts,  but  including  nine  Bibles,  and 
six  New  Testaments,  and  we  had  preached  the 
gospel  to  forty  different  audiences. 

80 


Marketing  the  Bible 

Twenty-eight  years  passed.  There  came  to 
my  house  at  Madanapalle  a  man  of  twenty-five 
or  thirty  years  of  age,  of  the  Merchant  Caste, 
with  a  singular  story.  He  was  from  the  suburb 
of  Warangal  in  which  we  had  sold  the  largest 
number  of  books.  He  may  have  been  an 
infant  at  the  time  we  were  there.  He  may 
not  have  been  born.  He  did  not  know  his  ex- 
act age. 

His  father  had  died  when  he  was  a  child.  He 
was  brought  up  by  his  father's  brother  as  a  son. 
When  some  twenty  years  of  age  he  was  one  day 
rummaging  in  a  cupboard  of  his  uncle's  house, 
when  he  came  upon  an  old  book.  It  was  called 
the  Kotta  Nibandhana,  the  New  Testament,  He 
asked  his  uncle  about  it. 

"O,  it's  a  book  1  bought  many  years  ago." 

"Well,  what  is  it  about,  uncle?" 

"  They  said,  when  1  bought  it,  that  it  told  of  a 
new  way  of  getting  rid  of  sin." 

"  Have  you  read  it  ?  " 

"No.  After  I  had  bought  it  I  showed  it  to  our 
family  priest,  and  he  persuaded  me  not  to  read 
it.  You  had  better  not  read  it  either.  Our 
fathers'  way  is  good  enough  for  me,  and  for  you 
too.    Put  it  back  where  you  found  it." 

The  young  man  put  it  back.    But  every  now 

81 


The  Cobra's  Den 


and  then,  secretly  at  first,  he  took  it  out  and  read 
parts  of  it.  He  became  interested.  He  became 
absorbed.  He  would  talk  with  his  friends  about 
that  divine  Guru,  Y^su  Kristu,  and  wanted  to 
know  where  he  could  learn  more  about  him. 
His  uncle  and  friends  became  alarmed.  They 
would  not  have  him  embrace  a  new  religion. 
They  tore  up  and  burned  the  New  Testament. 
They  raised  a  sufficient  purse,  and  bade  him  go 
on  a  pilgrimage,  first  to  Benares,  and  thence  to 
the  other  holy  places  of  the  Hindus,  to  reestab- 
lish his  faith  in  Hinduism.  For  two  years  he  had 
thus  wandered,  visiting  all  the  most  sacred  places 
of  the  Hindus. 

At  last  he  came  to  the  Holy  Mountain  of  Tiru- 
pati,  with  its  splendid  temples  on  its  summit, 
only  sixty  miles  from  my  station,  and  worshipped 
there.  His  mind  became  more  and  more  dissatis- 
fied with  the  Hinduism  he  saw  exemplified  at  the 
successive  holy  shrines.  He  asked  some  of  the 
other  pilgrims  if  they  had  ever  heard  of  people 
who  were  proclaiming  a  divine  redeemer  whom 
they  called  Y^su  Kristu.  At  last  he  found  a  man 
who  said,  "Yes,  there  are  some  people  of  that 
sort  sixty  miles  west  of  here,  at  Madanapalle, 
who  go  all  around  the  country  preaching  about 
Y^su  Kristu,  and  trying  to  make  us  give  up  our 

82 


Marketing  the  Bible 

gods,  and  these  our  holy  shrines.  There  don't 
many  people  believe  them.  You  keep  clear  of 
them.  Our  fathers'  gods  are  good  enough  for  us 
their  children.  Had!  Hari!  Vishnu!  Jaya! " 
(To  Vishnu  be  the  victory! ) 

Secretly  by  night  he  slipped  away.  He  came 
to  Madanapalle.  For  several  days  he  stopped  in 
a  Native  Rest  House,  while  reconnoitring  the 
ground,  and  making  enquiries  about  these  strange 
people  and  their  teachings.  Finally  he  fell  in 
with  one  of  the  very  men  who  had  stood  with 
me  on  the  cart,  and  sold  the  Scriptures  at  War- 
angal,  and  with  him  came  to  me.  Earnestly  did 
he  study  God's  Word  for  some  weeks,  under 
our  guidance,  and  then  asked  to  be  baptized 
into  the  name  of  that  Yesu  Kristu  he  had  so 
strangely  learned  about,  and  come  to  love  and 
trust. 

As  I  pronounced  the  Triune  Name  over  him,  in 
the  holy  ordinance  I  thanked  God  for  this  new 
evidence  of  the  verity  of  His  promise,  "  My  word 
shall  not  return  unto  Me  void." 

Scores  of  cases  of  known  fruitage  from  the 
scattering  of  the  seed  in  the  pages  of  the  printed 
truth  come  crowding  into  my  mind,  emphasising 
the  importance  of  earnestly  conducted  Bible 
colportage  in  missionary  work,  but  room  fails  me 

83 


The  Cobra's  Den 


to  give  them  here;  nor  need  I.  One  apple  from 
a  tree  gives  the  flavor  of  them  all.  If  we  press 
on  with  all  vigor  in  this  blessed  work,  we  are 
well  assured  that  "in  due  season  we  shall  reap, 
if  we  faint  not." 


84 


IX 


A  MEDICO-EVANGELISTIC  TOUR 

The  field  which  I  am  supposed  to  cultivate, 
with  Madanapalle  as  its  headquarters,  comprises 
the  subdivision  of  the  Cuddapah  district,  /.  e., 
that  portion  of  the  district  which  is  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  sub-collector  and  joint  magis- 
trate, resident  at  Madanapalle.  It  comprises  four 
Taluks  or  counties,  being  about  loo  miles  in 
length,  by  about  fifty  in  breadth.  My  work  is 
mostly,  of  course,  in  the  Madanapalle  Taluk,  and 
the  adjacent  one  of  Vayalpad.  I  have  also  made 
two  tours  in  the  northeastern  Taluk  of  Rayachoti, 
but  have  never  before  worked  in  this  northwest 
Taluk,  Kadiri,  the  nearest  point  of  which  is  thirty 
miles,  and  the  farthest  eighty  miles,  from  Madan- 
apalle. 

Having  returned  to  Madanapalle  from  a  previ- 
ous tour  on  the  first  of  December,  1  started,  on 
the  morning  of  the  fourth,  with  my  native  help- 
ers, for  a  month's  campaign  in  the  Kadiri  Taluk. 
1  brought  with  me  three  large  and  well-filled 
medicine  chests,  which  I  have  prepared  for  just 

«5 


The  Cobra's  Den 


this  work.  One  contains  eighty-five  vials  of 
from  one-half  ounce  to  eight  ounces  in  size,  filled 
with  the  stronger  and  more  expensive  prepara- 
tions; the  other  two  containing  more  bulky  arti- 
cles. The  three  together  contain  about  30,400 
doses  of  medicine.  I  took  with  me,  also,  one  of 
the  pupil  assistants  from  our  Madanapalle  dipen- 
sary,  to  help  me  in  dispensing  the  medicines. 

Thus  equipped,  we  moved  on,  by  short 
stages  from  Madanapalle  to  Kadiri,  the  head- 
quarters, or  county  town  of  the  Taluk.  During 
one  night's  journey  we  had  three  unbridged 
rivers  to  cross,  and,  in  one  of  these  the  cart  con- 
taining the  medicines  was  upset,  falling  partly  in 
the  water.  It  fell  down  the  bank  so  heavily,  that 
I  feared  great  destruction  amongst  the  medicines, 
but  it  proved  that  only  four  bottles,  containing 
some  ten  or  fifteen  rupees'  worth  of  medicine, 
were  broken. 

Kadiri  is  a  large,  old  heathen  town,  with  ex- 
tensive temples,  and  hundreds  of  Brahman  priests. 
We  were  too  tired  with  our  morning's  march 
and  work,  to  go  out  preaching  the  evening  of  the 
day  we  arrived,  but  sunrise  the  next  morning 
found  us  where  four  streets  meet  in  the  heart  of 
the  town,  with  a  very  large  crowd  of  curious 
listeners  around  us.    This  is  the  first  time  that  a 

66 


A  Medico-Evangelistic  Tour 

missionary,  or  a  European  physician,  has  been  in 
this  region,  and  they  were  not  a  little  curious  to 
know  what  it  meant.  Mounted  on  the  platform 
of  a  temple  portico,  1  could  be  seen  and  heard  by 
the  crowd  that  extended  down  the  four  streets, 
while  I  laid  before  them,  the  true  and  only  way 
of  salvation,  through  a  crucified  Redeemer. 
After  preaching,  1  remained,  for  twenty  minutes, 
to  assist  the  catechists  in  selling  books,  and  then 
left  them  to  continue  selling,  while  1  returned  to 
my  tent  to  attend  to  patients.  After  I  left,  the 
helpers  sold  about  loo  books. 

The  first  day  or  two,  the  people  came  rather 
cautiously  for  treatment.  I  had  intimated,  in  the 
Bazaar  street,  that  1  would  treat  any  who  would 
come,  but  they  did  not  understand  this  gratuitous 
treatment  of  the  sick,  so  they  came  tentatively, 
as  it  were,  the  first  day.  Three  or  four  Brah- 
mans,  half  a  dozen  merchants,  as  many  artisans, 
and  a  number  of  farmers  came  dropping  in  dur- 
ing the  day,  but,  as  each  applicant  for  treatment 
brought  several  friends  with  him,  we  had  good 
opportunities  of  preaching,  to  group  after  group, 
all  day.  The  next  day,  more  came,  and  to-day, 
the  third  day,  I  have  had  between  sixty  and 
seventy  patients,  including  every  class  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest.    Doubtless,  the  numbers 

87 


The  Cobra's  Den 


will  increase  while  1  remain  here.  We  go  out 
regularly,  morning  and  evening,  preaching  in  the 
town  and  surrounding  villages,  but  are  able  to 
continue  our  Evangelistic  work  through  the  day, 
by  means  of  the  medical  attractions  to  draw  peo- 
ple together. 

Monday  evening.  Yesterday  was  a  busy  day. 
Instead  of  going  out  preaching  in  the  morning,  I 
began  my  medical  work  at  sunrise,  so  as  to  get 
through  with  all  important  cases  by  nine  o'clock, 
and  be  ready  for  morning  service  in  my  tent. 
There  are,  at  present,  three  gentlemen  in  the 
revenue  service  of  government,  temporarily  en- 
camped with  their  families,  near  here,  and  two 
other  Europeans  in  government  employ,  also  in 
tents,  near  by.  Among  their  servants  and  office 
people,  there  are  several  native  Christians,  and 
they  all  joined  in  the  request,  that  I  would  give 
them  a  Telugu  service,  in  my  tent,  at  ten  a.  m. 
So,  setting  aside  the  medicine  chests,  tables,  etc., 
and  throwing  out  the  sides  of  the  tent,  to  make 
it  as  large  as  possible,  we  all  met,  and  I  preached 
from  Gal.  v.  13,  and  conducted  a  regular  Sabbath 
service  in  Telugu,  probably  the  first  ever  held  in 
the  Kadiri  Taluk. 

Bazaar  day  is  on  Sunday  here,  so,  at  two  p.  m., 

we  went   down   to  the    market   tope,  and 
88 


A  Medico-Evangelistic  Tour 

preached  to  large  crowds,  under  the  shade  of 
the  trees;  and,  at  five  p.  m.,  I  rode  out  between 
two  and  three  miles,  to  the  camp  of  the  senior 
officer,  where  all  the  Europeans  had  assembled, 
and  gave  them  an  English  service.  !  was  very 
tired  when  the  day's  work  was  over. 

To-day,  as  I  expected,  larger  numbers  of  pa- 
tients have  come  in.  I  began  as  soon  as  I  re- 
turned from  preaching  this  morning,  and  resting 
a  couple  of  hours  at  noon,  finished  at  five  p.  m., 
having  treated  io6  patients.  They  are  beginning 
to  come  in  now  from  the  outlying  villages,  ten 
or  thirteen  miles  off.  1  expect  a  busy  day  to- 
morrow. 

Tannakal,  Friday  evening.  I  found  that  there 
was  both  mission  and  medical  business,  which 
called  for  my  presence  in  Madanapalle  on  Wed- 
nesday. Under  ordinary  circumstances,  I  should 
have  left  Kadiri  on  Monday  night  or  Tuesday 
morning,  and  made  two  journeys  of  the  dis- 
tance, fifty-one  miles,  but  so  many  were  apply- 
ing for  treatment  in  Kadiri,  that  I  could  not  find 
it  in  my  heart  to  run  off  on  Tuesday  morning. 
So,  borrowing  a  couple  of  ponies,  and  sending 
my  own,  and  one  of  them  on  in  advance,  I 
waited  until  I  had  treated  123  patients,  and  then 

started,  and  made  one  pull  of  the  journey  to 
89 


The  Cobra's  Den 


Madanapalle,  reaching  there  horseback  about 
midnight.  I  was  pretty  well  shaken  with  the 
long  ride,  one  of  the  ponies  I  had  borrowed  be- 
ing a  hard  rider,  and  the  roads  very  rough.  Be- 
ing in  Madanapalle  on  Wednesday,  gave  me  the 
opportunity  to  deliver  the  Wednesday  evening 
Biblical  lecture  to  educated  Hindus,  in  the  "Free 
Reading  Room."  When  I  am  near  enough,  I 
often  ride  in  for  that,  as  I  always  have  a  good 
audience  of  attentive  listeners.  Finishing  up  my 
work  in  Madanapalle,  I  came  back  here,  thirty- 
six  miles,  yesterday,  my  tents  having,  in  the 
meantime,  been  moved  from  Kadiri,  to  this 
place. 

The  first  group  of  sick  that  appeared  this  morn- 
ing, before  sunrise,  was  from  ten  miles  beyond 
Kadiri.  By  the  time  they  had  heard  of  my  be- 
ing in  Kadiri,  and  come  there,  I  had  left,  so  they 
followed  me  on  here,  fifteen  miles,  and  another 
company  came  in  from  Kadiri  at  noon.  I  have 
had  some  very  interesting  audiences  to  preach  to 
to-day,  and  have  enjoyed  my  work. 

Saturday.    I  went  out  preaching  this  morning, 

and  was  back  at  my  medical  work  by  7:30  a.  m., 

and  worked  on,  stopping  an  hour  for  breakfast, 

until  the  market  had  begun,  (this  being  market 

day,)  when  I  went  out,  with  my  native  helpers, 
90 


A  Medico-Evangelistic  Tour 

and  preached  to  different  groups  until  four  p.  m. 
Had  a  discussion  with  some  Brahmans,  who 
wanted  to  prove  to  the  people  that  their  way 
was  the  best,  after  all,  lest  they  should  be  left 
without  followers  and  without  support.  After 
the  bazaar  was  over,  I  came  back  and  treated  a 
few  more  patients  at  my  tent. 

Sunday.  Blessed  day  of  rest,  but  it  has 
proved  to  me  a  blessed  day  of  work,  instead 
of  rest,  work  for  the  Master,  who  hesitated  not 
to  heal  on  the  Sabbath  day.  1  have  had  to-day 
1 10  patients  from  some  twenty  different  villages, 
some  of  them  fifteen  and  twenty  miles  off,  vil- 
lages among  the  hills  to  the  west,  that  we  could 
never  hope  to  visit,  and  where,  perhaps,  the 
message  of  salvation  would  never  have  been 
heard  by  the  present  generation,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  some  of  them  finding  their  way  here 
for  medical  treatment.  We  have  not  gone  to 
the  villages  preaching  to-day,  but  have  confined 
ourselves  to  preaching  to  the  successive  groups 
of  patients,  and  many  have  taken  back  with  them 
Scripture  portions  and  tracts,  that  may  guide 
them  to  the  port  of  peace. 

Chikatimanupalle,  Christmas  evening.  This 
has  proved  one  of  the  hardest  day's  work  I  have 
had.   Off  among  the  hills,  nine  miles  northeast 

91 


The  Cobra's  Den 


of  Tannakal,  is  the  little  market  town  of  Kokanti. 
To-day  was  the  market  day,  so  I  sent  off  two  of 
the  native  helpers,  at  daylight,  to  that  place,  with 
a  supply  of  tracts  and  books,  promising  to  follow 
them  myself,  in  time  for  the  bazaar.  My  tent 
was  to  be  moved  on  to  this  place,  seven  miles, 
to-day.  This  is  also  nine  miles  from  Kokanti,  it 
being  at  the  apex  of  a  triangle,  with  a  base  of 
seven  miles  on  the  main  road,  and  my  tent  was 
to  be  moved  along  this  base,  while  I  went  on  to 
the  market  at  Kokanti. 

I  had  told  the  people,  at  Tannakal,  that  I  would 
treat  all  who  came,  up  till  nine  o'clock.  Know- 
ing I  was  going  to  leave,  patients  poured  in  early, 
so  that,  at  sunrise,  when  I  began  to  work,  there 
was  already  quite  a  crowd,  and  although,  after  I 
had  preached,  I  went  on  examining  and  prescrib- 
ing for  patients,  as  fast  as  possible,  having  two 
assistants  to  dispense  the  medicine,  the  people 
came  faster  than  I  could  attend  to  them,  and,  at 
eight  o'clock,  there  was  a  crowd  of  200  around 
my  tent.  I  stopped  and  preached  again,  and 
then  resumed  my  work.  They  were  evidently 
afraid  that  I  would  leave  before  I  had  treated  all, 
and  so  pressed  upon  one  another,  each  trying  to 
get  in  first,  that  I  had  to  put  up  stakes  in  front, 

with  but  one  entrance,  and  place  a  guard  to  let  in 
92 


A  Medico-Evangelistic  Tour 

but  one  at  a  time.  By  11:45,  however,  I  had 
got  through  with  them  all,  124  patients,  the  rest 
being  friends  accompanying  them. 

I  then  had  breakfast,  and  at  12:1s  mounted  my 
pony,  and  rode  off,  nine  miles  over  the  hills,  to 
Kokanti,  reaching  that  place  at  two  o'clock.  I 
found  the  catechists  already  at  work  in  the  mar- 
ket, and,  joining  them,  I,  myself,  preached  to 
seven  different  audiences,  aiding  in  selling  books 
between  the  addresses.  I  continued  working 
thus,  in  the  bazaar,  till  4:20,  when  I  mounted  my 
pony,  and  started  for  this  place,  Chikatimanu- 
palle,  nine  miles.  The  sun  was  very  hot,  and 
the  wind  was  so  high  that  I  could  not  hold  an 
umbrella,  and,  as  the  sun  shone  on  my  back,  I 
felt  as  though  it  were  blistered.  By  the  time  I 
had  gone  a  little  way,  what  with  my  124  pa- 
tients, and  preaching  in  the  morning,  my  ride  to 
Kokanti  in  the  sun,  and  seven  addresses  to  open- 
air  audiences  in  the  bazaar,  I  felt  pretty  well  done 
up,  so  much  so,  that,  before  1  had  gone  many 
miles,  I  got  off  my  pony,  and  lay  down  by  the 
roadside  to  rest,  before  I  could  summon  up  reso- 
lution to  proceed.  However,  I  got  here  about 
dark,  and  found  my  dinner  waiting  for  me,  my 
carts  having  come  up  some  two  hours  before. 

After  dinner,  and  a  good  cup  of  tea,  I  felt  re- 
93 


The  Cobra's  Den 


freshed,  and  so  ends  my  Christmas  day.  Christ- 
mas holidays  surely!  But  how  could  one  better 
keep  the  day,  or  better  please  Him  whose  birth 
is  to-day  celebrated,  than  by  making  His  name 
and  birth  and  saving  power  known  to  hundreds 
of  those,  who  had  never  before  even  heard  of 
Him  ?  O  may  He  give  me  grace  and  strength, 
to  enable  me  to  make  the  most  of  this  glorious 
opportunity  of  making  His  salvation  known. 
Combining  the  medical  with  Evangelistic  work 
on  tours,  makes  hard  work  for  the  missionary, 
but  it  pays. 

Kandukur,  Wednesday.  I  came  on  here  yes- 
terday. This  is  a  large  market  town,  and  is 
noted  as  being  the  worst  fever  region  in  all  the 
district.  The  drinking  water  is  very  bad,  and 
almost  every  other  man  you  meet,  has  either 
fever,  or  its  result  "ague  cake,"  or  enlarged 
spleen.  The  fevers  here  are  mostly  of  the 
quartan  type,  coming  on  every  fourth  day. 
There  are  many  here  who  have  had  it  for  more 
than  twelve  months  with  the  omission  of  scarcely 
a  single  turn.  It  is  a  very  persistent  form  of 
fever,  and  prevails  all  over  the  region  in  which  I 
have  been  touring,  but  this  is  its  headquarters. 
I  have  had  hundreds  of  cases  of  it  to  treat  at  my 

dispensary  at  Madanapalle,  and  1  have  found, 
y4 


A  Medico-Evangelistic  Tour 

that  almost  the  only  way  to  conquer  it,  is  to  give 
hypodermic  injections  of  quinine.  This  method 
of  administration  has  been  pronounced  by  many 
to  be  unsafe,  unscientific,  and  barbarous,  but  I 
am  able  to  point  to  nearly  i,ooo  cases,  treated  by 
the  hypodermic  injection  of  quinine  within  the 
last  five  or  six  years,  and  my  experience  proves 
it  to  be  safe,  eminently  successful,  and  more  per- 
manent in  its  results,  than  when  the  quinine  is 
taken  by  the  mouth.  I  find,  moreover,  that  it 
saves  fully  three-fourths  of  the  quinine,  i.  e.,  it  re- 
quires less  than  one-fourth  the  quantity,  when 
injected  under  the  skin,  than  when  swallowed  to 
produce  a  permanent  cure.  The  natives  see  its 
good  results,  and  have  great  faith  in  it.  A  group 
of  men  came  to  me  to-day,  having  followed  me 
all  the  way  from  Kadiri,  to  have  their  "arms 
pricked,"  as  they  call  it,  for  quartan  fever,  and 
they  reported,  that  not  a  patient  whose  arm  I 
had  "pricked"  when  there,  has  had  any  return 
of  the  fever. 

I  usually  inject  four  grains,  dissolved  in  twenty 
drops  of  distilled  water,  by  the  aid  of  hydro- 
chloric acid.  1  have  injected  twenty  cases  to-day, 
and  upward  of  200  during  the  last  six  weeks. 
On  another  tour  I  injected  seventy  in  one  day. 
We  have  had,  to-day,  large  audiences  of  Brah- 

95 


The  Cobra's  Den 


mans  and  merchants  to  preach  to,  and  have 
found  good  sale  for  our  books. 

Tippasamudram.  Plenty  of  work  again  to- 
day. Before  leaving  Kandukur  at  12:30,  I  had 
treated  sixty-seven  patients,  including  one  im- 
portant surgical  operation.  Riding  five  miles,  I 
came  to  a  market  tope,  and  spent  the  time  till 
four  p.  M.,  preaching  to  successive  audiences,  and 
then  came  on  here,  three  miles  farther,  reaching 
this  place  before  my  tent  came  up  from  Kandu- 
kur. However,  it  soon  arrived,  and  I  got  it 
pitched  soon  after  dark,  and  have  now,  8:30 
p.  M.,  just  had  my  dinner,  and  must  have  prayers 
with  my  native  helpers,  and  then  be  off  to  bed. 
Judging  from  the  number  of  men  who  came  to 
me  in  the  market  to-day,  asking  for  advice,  I 
shall  have  a  busy  day  to-morrow. 

Friday.  On  rising  this  morning,  before  sun- 
rise, I  found  a  crowd  of  people  already  waiting 
for  me.  They  had  followed  me  from  Kadiri, 
being  too  late  for  me  at  each  of  my  previous  en- 
campments. Soon  another  company  came  up 
from  Tannakal,  and  another  from  Chikatimanu- 
palle,  and  still  another,  from  a  village  close  to 
Kandukur.  Before  I  had  done  with  these,  the 
people  of  the  town  began  to  pour  in,  and,  ex- 
cept while  at  breakfast,  1  have  hardly  had  any 

96 


A  Medico-Evangelistic  Tour 

intermission  all  day  long.  As  I  was  closing  up 
at  night,  another  group  of  six  patients  came  up, 
dusty  and  foot-sore,  having  travelled  forty  miles 
to  find  me,  or  from  ten  miles  beyond  Kadiri. 
Four  of  them  were  quartan  fever  cases. 

I  have  been  in  this  fever  region  so  long  now, 
and  have  had  so  much  work  to  do  in  the  sun, 
that  I  have  had  a  chill  and  fever  myself,  almost 
every  day  of  late.  I  have  taken  large  doses  of 
quinine,  but  without  effect,  and  have  now  given 
myself  a  hypodermic  injection,  and  hope  to  have 
no  farther  trouble.  I  have  had  a  great  many 
cases  of  blindness  brought  to  me  to-day.  I  re- 
stored sight  to  two  blind  people  lately,  by  oper- 
ating for  cataract,  and,  hearing  of  this,  there 
have  overtaken  me  to-day,  quite  a  number  of 
cases  of  blindness,  some  of  them  perfectly  hope- 
less from  staphyloma,  and  other  causes.  A  few, 
however,  are  cases  of  simple  cataract,  and  I  shall 
get  the  men  to  come  to  my  hospital  at  Madan- 
apalle  next  week  for  operation.  I  have  had  io8 
patients  to-day. 

Kotta  K6ta,  Saturday  evening.  I  rode  on  here 
at  daylight  this  morning,  and  preached  in  the 
main  street  of  the  town  on  my  arrival.  There 
does  not  seem  to  be  so  much  sickness  here,  as  at 
my  former  camps,  still,  as  many  patients  as  I 

97 


The  Cobra's  Den 


could  well  attend  to,  have  come  in  during  the 
day. 

Sunday.  To-day  is  Bazaar  day  here,  and  an 
incident  has  occurred  which  has  interested  and 
encouraged  us.  We  were  out  as  far  as  this  a 
year  ago,  and  were  here  on  Bazaar  day,  and  sold 
nearly  200  Scriptures  and  tracts.  To-day,  as 
Catechist  Souri  had  just  concluded  preaching  to 
his  first  audience,  a  man  of  high  caste  stepped 
out  from  the  crowd  and  said,  "Yes,  this  is  the 
true  religion;  last  year  I  heard  these  people 
preach  here,  and  bought  one  of  their  '  Spiritual 
Teachings,'  and  the  study  of  that  has  made  me 
cease  worshipping  idols,  and  1  now  pray  only  to 
Jesus  Christ;  just  see  what  a  beautiful  prayer 
there  is  at  the  end  of  the  book,"  and  he  repeated  it 
from  memory,  and  explained  sentence  by  sen- 
tence. "  I  now  see,"  he  said,  "  what  a  beautiful 
and  soul-satisfying  prayer  that  is,  I  shall  pray  it 
every  day  till  I  die,  and  I  advise  all  of  you  to  buy 
these  books  and  judge  for  yourselves."  The 
once  preaching  in  the  bazaar  last  year,  and  this 
one  little  book  purchased  there,  were  all  the 
means  of  grace  this  man  had  enjoyed,  but  he 
seemed  fully  in  earnest,  travelling  the  heavenly 
road. 

Monday  evening.  New  Year's  day.  Home 

98 


A  Medico-Evangelistic  Tour 

again!  I  rode  in  this  morning  from  our  last 
camp,  thirty-two  miles  off,  preaching  once  on 
the  way.  This  ends  our  tour  of  twenty-nine 
days.  We  have,  while  out,  visited  nine  market 
towns  on  their  Bazaar  day,  and  preached  and 
sold  Scriptures  and  books  to  audiences  assembled 
from  hundreds  of  villages.  We  have  preached 
in  seventy-eight  different  villages,  and  have  sold 
1,013  Scriptures,  books,  and  tracts. 

During  this  tour,  I  have  treated  713  different 
patients,  giving  each  patient  an  average  of  five 
days'  treatment.  These  patients  came  from  130 
towns  and  villages,  and  to  all  the  Word  of  Life 
was  preached.  The  1,013  books  sold  to  the  pa- 
tients and  in  the  weekly  markets,  have,  at  the 
least  calculation,  found  their  way  to  100  villages; 
may  the  life-giving  Spirit  accompany  these 
books,  and  cause,  that  each  being  read,  under- 
stood and  believed,  may  bring  forth  fruit  unto 
everlasting  life.  I  have  given  this  chapter  of  ex- 
perience to  show  how  we  combine  medical, 
evangelistic  and  colporteur  work.  Such  work 
is  not  in  vain. 


99 


X 


HINDUISM  AS  IT  IS 

Modern  Hinduism,  the  Hinduism  held  and 
practiced  by  the  people  of  India  for  the  last  2,000 
years,  and  held  by  them  still,  is  not  at  all  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Vedas.  That  was  essentially  a  pure 
monotheism. 

The  Vedas,  dating  back  from  near  the  time  of 
Moses,  before  all  Noachian  tradition  had  vanished 
from  among  men,  contain  in  the  main  true  ideas 
of  God  and  man  and  sin  and  sacrifice.  They 
teach  of  one  Supreme  Being,  the  creator,  pre- 
server and  governor  of  all;  that  He  is  pure  and 
holy;  that  man  is  in  a  state  of  sin,  not  at  peace 
with  holy  God;  that  sinful  man  can  have  no 
union  with  sinless  God  until  and  unless  sin  is  in 
some  way  expiated.  But  they  fail  to  show  how 
this  expiation  is  to  be  accomplished,  and  leave 
the  devotee  groping  in  uncertainty  and  dread. 

The  Aryans  brought  these  monotheistic  Vedas 

with  them  when  they  migrated  into  North  India. 

But  there  soon  arose  another  series  of  religious 

books,  the  Upanishads,  commentaries  on  the 
100 


Hinduism  as  It  Is 


Vedas,  rituals,  all  those  books  known  to  the 
Hindus  as  "The  Shastras."  These  are  theoretic- 
ally held  to  be  of  only  secondary  authority  to  the 
Vedas;  but,  in  reality,  it  is  they,  with  the  still 
later  books,  "The  Puranas,"  that  teach  the  reli- 
gion, and  control  the  lives  of  the  Hindus  of  the 
present  age. 

With  them  first  came  in  the  idea  of  the  Hindu 
Triad,  and  the  host  of  minor  gods;  of  Nirvana, 
or  final  absorption;  of  caste  distinctions  and 
caste  observance.  Modern  polytheism  and  idol- 
atry; pilgrimages  to  holy  places;  desert  wander- 
ings and  asceticism;  physical  tortures;  infant 
marriages;  virgin  widowhood;  suttee,  or  the 
burning  of  a  widow  on  the  funeral  pyre  of  her 
departed  lord,  all  crept  in  under  the  shadow  of 
these  Shastras  and  Puranas. 

Hinduism,  since  before  the  time  of  Christ, 
holds  to  The  Trimurti,  that  is,  the  Hindu  Triad, 
Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Siva.  Brahma  being  the 
Creator,  Vishnu  the  preserver,  and  Siva  the  de- 
stroyer. Brahma,  their  books  tell  us,  committed 
incest;  was  guilty  of  such  lustful  conduct  that  he 
was  cursed  to  the  effect  that  no  temple  should 
ever  be  built  in  his  honour,  and  no  knee  should 
ever  bow  to  him  in  worship,  and  to  this  day,  al- 
though India  is  filled  with  Hindu  temples,  there 

101 


The  Cobra's  Den 


is  nowhere  one  erected  to  Brahma,  and  he  has  no 
worshippers. 

The  Hindus  are  nearly  equally  divided  between 
the  worshippers  of  Vishnu,  or  Vaishnavites  and 
the  worshippers  of  Siva,  or  Saivites.  One  party, 
with  the  trident  on  their  foreheads,  painted  in 
two  nearly  perpendicular  lines  of  white,  con- 
verging toward  the  bridge  of  the  nose,  with  a 
perpendicular  line  of  red  between  them,  range 
themselves  under  Vishnu  as  the  Supreme  God. 
The  others,  with  three  horizontal  lines  of  sandal- 
wood ashes  smeared  on  their  foreheads,  worship 
Siva  as  the  Supreme.  There  is  a  cordial  animos- 
ity between  these  two  sects,  breaking  out  often 
into  abuse  and  quarrels,  and  even  sometimes  riots. 

The  wife  of. Vishnu  is  Lakshmi,  the  goddess  of 
beauty  and  fortune,  and  their  son  is  Kama,  the 
India  Cupid,  the  God  of  love.  The  monkey  is 
sacred  to  Vishnu.  His  temples  swarm  with 
them,  and  they  are  cared  for,  and  bountifully  fed, 
as  the  descendants  and  present  representatives  of 
Hanuman,  the  Monkey-God  who  assisted  Rama, 
one  of  Vishnu's  incarnations,  in  recovering  his 
captured  wife,  Siti,  from  Ravana,  giant  king  of 
Ceylon,  who  had  stolen  her.  All  these  are  de- 
voutly worshipped  by  the  Vaishnavites,  or  fol- 
lowers of  Vishnu. 

103 


Hinduism  as  It  Is 


The  wife  of  Siva  is  Parvati,  and  their  two  sons 
are  Vighneswara  or  Ganesa,  the  remover  of  ob- 
stacles, or  the  God  of  all  new  undertakings,  and 
Subhramania,  the  God  of  war. 

The  son  Ganesa,  is  practically,  far  more  wor- 
shipped than  the  father  and  mother.  He  is  rep- 
resented with  the  head  and  trunk  of  an  ele- 
phant, and  pot-bellied.  He  must  be  worshipped 
on  the  beginning  of  any  and  every  new  under- 
taking, and  for  the  removal  of  all  obstacles.  His 
hideous  image,  chiseled  in  stone,  carved  in  wood 
and  in  ivory,  cast  in  copper,  or  brass,  is  found 
everywhere;  granite  ones  by  the  roadside  for 
convenience,  and  in  temples;  wood  and  metal 
ones  in  every  Saivite's  house. 

Inferior  to  these  are  multitudes  of  deities  who 
are  supposed  to  attend  to  specific  affairs  of 
family  life  and  business  undertakings  of  every 
kind,  as  birth,  betrothal,  marriage,  sickness, 
death,  and  hosts  more  of  still  inferior  gods  and 
goddesses,  which  must  be  worshipped  and  pro- 
pitiated if  the  worshipper  is  to  have  a  quiet  and 
happy  life.  Indeed  their  books  teach  that  there 
are  530,000,000  of  gods,  male  and  female,  named 
and  unnamed.  Of  these  the  Hindus  stand  in 
continual  fear,  and  they  must  be  continually  pro- 
pitiated, by  libations,  offerings,  and  sacrifices. 

103 


The  Cobra's  Den 


The  temples,  the  roadside  shrines,  the  groves, 
the  highways  and  byways,  the  market-places  and 
bazaars,  and  the  houses,  family  rooms,  bedrooms 
and  kitchens,  swarm  with  idols  representing 
these  gods,  great  and  small,  reminding  them  of 
the  acts  of  worship  they  must  perform. 

The  character  of  these  multitudinous  gods  of 
the  Hindus,  from  Brahma  down,  will  not  bear 
inspection.  The  morals  of  a  people  are  never 
higher  than  those  of  the  gods  they  worship. 
This  accounts  for  the  lax  morality  so  sadly  in 
evidence  among  the  people  of  India. 

Polygamy  is  recognized  in  their  system,  and 
practiced  among  the  Telugus  as  among  others  of 
the  Hindus.  There  are  no  "old  bachelors" 
among  them.  They  believe  that  their  after 
condition  depends  in  a  degree  on  their  having 
male  offspring  to  perform  their  funeral  obsequies 
and  subsequent  ceremonies.  They  have  a  proverb 
which  says,  "  Get  a  good  wife  if  you  can;  if  not, 
get  a  bad  one;  marry  you  must." 

If  after  marriage  they  have  no  children,  or  if 

they  have  only  girls,  it  is,  according  to  their 

teachings,  incumbent  on  them  to  marry  another 

wife.    I  have  known  a  Hindu  who,  with  four 

wives,  had  only  daughters.    He  married  a  fifth 

in  hope  of  having  sons. 

104 


Hinduism  as  It  Is 


Hindus  often  look  upon  plurality  of  wives, 
however,  in  a  somewhat  different  light.  A 
Hindu  gentleman  of  high  position,  who  had 
been  a  patient  of  mine,  came  in  from  his  distant 
home  to  express  his  thanks  to  me  for  his  restored 
health,  and  to  make  me  a  friendly  visit.  After 
talking  on  various  matters  of  interest  he  asked 
how  many  wives  I  had.  "Only  one,  most 
assuredly,"  was  my  reply. 

"What,  sir,"  said  he,  "can  a  benevolent  gen- 
tleman like  yourself,  so  continually  doing  good 
to  all  around  you,  rest  satisfied  with  throwing 
your  protecting  mantle  over  only  one  poor  un- 
protected female  ?  How  can  you  regard  that 
as  doing  your  full  duty  toward  the  weaker 
sex  ?  " 

Boys  are  regarded  by  them  as  a  blessing,  and 
girls  as  a  curse.  If  a  boy  is  born  they  think  the 
deity  is  pleased  and  confers  a  favour;  if  a  girl,  it  is 
a  sign  of  the  divine  displeasure.  If  a  birth  is 
announced  in  a  friend's  house,  ere  they  send  any 
messages  they  must  ascertain  whether  it  is  a  case 
calling  for  congratulations,  a  boy,  or  condolence, 
a  girl.  When  our  sixth  son  was  born,  and  we 
had  no  daughter,  a  Hindu  Rajah,  whose  do- 
minions lay  not  far  from  my  station,  an  old 

patient  of  mine,  came  in  to  congratulate  me  over 
105 


The  Cobra's  Den 


the  birth  of  "six  sons,  without  a  daughter  to 
spoil  it  all." 

I  told  him  that  both  his  mother  and  myself 
were  much  disappointed  that  it  was  not  a 
daughter.  He  looked  and  spoke  as  though  he 
considered  me  daft  for  having  such  a  wish. 

"But,  your  highness,"  said  1,  "where  would 
you  and  1  be  were  it  not  for  our  mothers  ?" 

"Ah,  sir,"  said  he,  "there  are  sinners  enough 
in  the  world  so  that  there  will  be  no  lack  of 
women.  There  is  no  necessity  for  the  righteous 
to  have  daughters." 

The  Hindu  caste  system  is  nowhere  indicated 
in  the  Vedas.  It  arose  after  the  migration  of  the 
Aryans  into  India.  Yet  there  is  not  a  part  of 
their  religion  which,  for  these  past  twenty 
centuries,  has  held  such  an  iron  grip  upon  the 
people.  For  it  is  a  religious,  not  a  social,  dis- 
tinction. The  progenitors  of  each  caste  they 
hold  to  have  been  a  separate  creation  on  the  part 
of  Brahma;  the  Brahmans  being  created  from 
his  head;  the  Kshatryas,  warriors,  from  his 
shoulders;  the  Vaishyas,  merchants  and  artisans, 
from  his  loins;  the  Sudras,  farmers,  from  his 
thighs,  and  labourers  from  his  feet.  There  are 
subdivisions  of  these  castes  covering  every  trade 
and  profession. 

106 


Hinduism  as  It  Is 


A  man  is  born  into  a  caste;  he  never  can 
ascend.  A  merchant's  son  must  be  a  merchant. 
The  son  of  one  of  the  blacksmith  caste,  a  black- 
smith. It  stunts  progress.  It  prevents  true 
brotherly  feeling.  Under  it  a  Brahman  may 
lightly  say,  "stand  by  thyself,  I  am  holier  than 
thou."  Its  provisions  are  cast-iron,  and  oi; 
observing  them  one's  future  depends.  1  have 
known  of  a  Brahman  who  died  in  sight  of  foot* 
placed  there  for  his  sustenance,  because,  for- 
sooth, that  food  had  been  cooked  by  one  of 
lower  caste.  "Better  die,"  said  he,  "and  gain 
heaven,  than  eat  that  food  and  live,  and  lose 
caste,  and  lose  heaven," 

It  is  one  of  our  greatest  obstacles  in  missionary 
work.  The  Brahmans  would  rather  see  a  son 
die  than  become  a  Christian  and  disgrace  their 
caste. 

Transmigration  of  souls  is  also  a  doctrine  of 
modern  Hinduism  nowhere  indicated  in  the 
Vedas.  It  teaches  that  when  one  dies,  his  soul 
will  simply  enter  another  body,  superior  or 
inferior  to  his  former  condition  according  as  to 
whether  merit  or  demerit  has  preponderated  in 
this  life.  Each  one  hopes  that  his  soul  may,  in 
the  next  birth,  be  born  a  Brahman.  Each  one 
fears  that  it  may  be  born  in  one  of  lower  caste, 

107 


The  Cobra's  Den 


or  as  an  animal  or  reptile.  They  hold  that  this 
transmigration  will  go  on  until  finally  they  shall, 
in  some  way,  have  acquired  so  much  merit  that 
the  soul  may  be  absorbed  into  that  of  the  Deity, 
and  their  individual  existence  cease.  This  is  the 
Nirvana,  or  final  absorption,  which  is  the  highest 
state  of  future  bliss  to  which  Hinduism  points  its 
most  zealous  devotees. 

The  stolid  indifference  with  which  most  Hindus 
meet  death,  is  explained  by  this  belief,  that  at 
death  they  are  simply  passing  one  milestone  in 
their  almost  endless  series  of  existences,  and  that 
there  is  as  good  a  chance  in  the  next  birth  as  in 
that  which  they  are  leaving. 

Those  who  posed  as  representatives  of  Hindu- 
ism at  the  "Parliament  of  Religions,"  portrayed 
a  kind  of  ancient  Vedic  Hinduism,  revised  to  suit 
their  own  ideas,  and  make  it  palatable  to  persons 
of  Western  culture.  Culling  its  choicest,  and 
giving  a  Christian  colouring  to  many  of  its  con- 
ceptions, they  evolved  and  held  up  to  the  ad- 
miration of  their  credulous  auditors  as  Hinduism 
a  system  as  different,  nay  far  more  different  from 
the  real  Hinduism  of  India's  people  since  the  days 
of  Malachi  than  Christianity  is  from  Mormonism. 

The  native  newspapers  of  India  sneer  at  the 
utterances  of  the  Chicago  representatives  of  Hin- 

108 


Hinduism  as  It  Is 


duism,  as  utterly  untrue  pictures  of  Hinduism  as 
it  exists.  Indeed  "  The  Hindu  Nation,"  an  ortho- 
dox leading  Hindu  newspaper,  says: 

"The  pure  and  undefiled  Hinduism  which 
Swami  Vivekananda  preached  has  no  existence 
to-day;  has  had  no  existence  for  centuries." 
And  "  The  Reis  and  Rayyet,"  another  representa- 
tive Hindu  paper,  adds,  "  In  fact  abomination 
worship  is  the  main  ingredient  of  modern  Hin- 
duism." 

And  yet  the  mass  of  the  Hindus  suppose  that 
the  Hinduism  of  to-day  has  come  down  to  them 
from  the  Vedas,  for  not  one  man  in  ten  thousand 
in  India  really  knows  what  the  Vedas  teach,  but 
are  simply  satisfied  to  take  their  religion  as  it 
comes  to  them  from  their  immediate  fathers. 

In  spite,  however,  of  the  trammels  of  their 
superstition  and  the  blind  teachings  of  their 
Shastras,  many  Hindus  do  have  a  sense  of  the 
burden  of  sin,  and  a  desire  for  its  expiation,  and 
a  longing  for  conformity  to,  and  communion 
with  a  personal  God  and  father,  and  do  have  an 
undefined  hope  of  a  future  world  of  bliss. 

This  we  see  indicated  in  the  writings  of  their 
sages  and  poets  of  all  the  ages.  This  we  find 
now  and  then  in  the  thoughtful  Hindus  of  the 
present  day.    This  gives  us  an  invaluable  lever- 

109 


The  Cobra's  Den 

age  in  gaining  access  to  their  hearts  and  present- 
ing Jesus  Christ  as  the  all-sufficient  Saviour  from 
sin,  its  pollution,  its  penalty;  as  the  one  who  can 
lift  us  up  to  be-come  sons  of  God. 


110 


XI 


"LORD  GANESA  "  AND  LITTLE  RAMASWAMI 

I  SAW  a  sight  one  day  that  made  my  heart  ache, 
ache  for  the  boys  and  girls  of  India,  and  which  I 
desire  to  picture  to  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  dear 
home  lands,  to  see  if  they  will  not  lend  a  vigor- 
ous hand  in  soon  making  such  things  impossible 
in  all  of  idol-ridden  India. 

I  was  walking  down  the  main  street  of  the  great 
heathen  city  of  Madras  toward  the  temple  of  the 
god  Ganesa.  It  stood  right  on  the  street,  and 
was  not  larger  inside  than  a  hall  bedroom,  for  the 
Hindus  do  not  assemble  in  these  wayside  temples 
for  worship,  but  go  in,  one  or  two  at  a  time,  to 
present  their  offerings  to  the  god  of  the  temple. 

At  the  farther  end  of  the  temple,  on  a  stone 
platform  as  high  as  a  table,  and  facing  the  wide- 
open  front  doors,  was  the  god  Ganesa.  He  has 
an  elephant's  head  and  trunk,  and  a  huge  belly, 
and  was  chiselled  out  of  stone,  sitting  on  a  large 
stone  rat,  and  as  tall  as  a  man.  He  was  very 
black  and  shiny  from  the  ghee,  or  melted  butter, 

poured  over  his  head  by  the  worshippers,  to  make 
111 


The  Cobra's  Den 


him  feel  good-natured  and  so  grant  their  requests, 
and  had  garlands  of  white  flowers  around  his 
neck,  placed  there  by  some  worshipper. 

As  I  neared  the  temple  I  came  upon  a  Hindu 
mother  taking  her  little  son  Ramaswami,  to  make 
his  first  offering  to  the  god  Ganesa  in  that  tem- 
ple. On  his  arms  were  hanging  garlands  of  flow- 
ers and  in  his  hands  was  incense  to  offer.  He 
was  chatting  merrily,  in  Tamil,  with  his  mother, 
who  had  hold  of  his  hand  and  was  telling  him 
how  he  must  go  into  the  temple,  making  his 
salaams  and  showing  his  offerings,  and  then 
place  them  in  the  god's  lap  with  his  own  hands, 
so  that  the  god  would  always  be  his  friend  and 
not  harm  him. 

As  they  came  in  front  of  the  wide-open  door, 
little  Ramaswami  saw  the  huge  black  idol,  with 
his  eyes  painted  to  look  fierce,  his  tusks  white 
and  sticking  out  toward  him,  his  tongue  fiery  red, 
and  his  black  trunk  raised  up  to  one  side  as  if  to 
strike.  With  a  scream  he  pulled  his  hand  away 
from  his  mother's  and  sprang  to  one  side,  out  of 
sight  of  the  monster,  and  stood  trembling  with 
fright.  His  mother,  laughing  at  his  terror,  reas- 
sured him,  saying,  "The  god  won't  strike  you; 
he  is  a  good  god  and  likes  to  have  little  boys  wor- 
ship him.    Come  and  lay  your  offerings  in  his 

112 


A  TEMPLE  ELEPHANT 


"  Lord  Ganesa  "  and  Little  Ramaswami 


lap,  Ramaswami,  don't  be  afraid;"  and  led  him 
again  up  to  the  side  of  the  door. 

As  soon  as  he  came  in  front  of  the  horrid  idol 
he  screamed  again,  and  tearing  away  from  his 
mother,  ran  down  the  street  toward  his  home. 
The  mother,  with  a  hard  laugh,  overtook  him 
half  a  block  away,  seized  him  and  half  dragged 
him  back  to  the  temple,  and  said, 

"You  little  fool!  Is  your  father's  son  going 
to  be  a  coward?  The  god  won't  strike  you. 
He  won't  harm  you.  Don't  you  see,  he  is  made 
of  stone  and  can't  move;  he  can't  hurt  you. 
Come  along,  you  little  imp,  and  lay  your  flowers 
and  incense  in  his  lap;"  and  pushing  the  scream- 
ing child  before  her,  with  one  hand  firmly  grasp- 
ing each  shoulder,  she  forced  him,  in  terror  as  he 
was,  up  onto  the  steps  before  the  idol  and  made 
him  lay  the  offerings  in  the  lap  of  the  god. 

Immediately  he  had  done  this,  he  twisted  him- 
self from  her  grasp,  and,  without  making  any 
salaams  to  the  god,  dashed  past  me  down  the 
street  for  his  home,  still  screaming  with  fright, 
while  his  mother,  laughing,  slowly  followed 
him. 

I  lingered  after  they  had  gone,  thinking  of  the 

mothers  and  the  children  in  my  native  land,  and 

I  said,  "O,  if  all  the  mothers  of  Christendom 
113 


The  Cobra's  Den 


would  be  as  zealous  in  bringing  their  children 
to  the  blessed  Jesus  as  are  these  heathen  mothers 
in  making  their  children  worship  their  repellant 
idols,  how  many  more  strong,  living  Christian 
characters  there  would  be,  and  what  an  added 
force  would  they  constitute  in  bringing  on  speed- 
ily that  day  when  'the  idols  shall  be  utterly 
abolished,'  and  when  'Jesus  shall  reign  from  sea 
to  sea.' " 


114 


XII 


A  brahman's  testimony 

"He  was  a  Christian,  sir,  and  I  believe  he 
spoke  the  truth,"  said  the  Brahman  magistrate. 

It  was  in  1869.  I  had  been  away  from  my 
station  for  some  weeks,  sowing  seed  in  the  out- 
lying regions.  Shortly  after  my  return  the  su- 
perior magistrate  of  the  district,  a  cultured  Eng- 
lish gentleman,  came  to  call  upon  me  one  day 
and  in  the  course  of  the  conversation,  he  said, 
"I  have  something  to  tell  you,  which  I  think 
will  please  you."  "Have  you,"  said  I,  "then 
please  tell  it." 

He  told  me  of  a  case  that  had  been  before  the 
court  of  the  Brahman  magistrate  of  the  town 
during  my  absence  which  was  this: 

A  poor  man  of  good  caste  had  borrowed 
money  of  the  soucars,  or  rich,  high  caste  money- 
lenders, in  the  chief  Bazaar  street  of  the  town. 
The  money  was  due,  and  the  poor  man  came  to 
tell  them  he  had  failed  to  raise  the  money  and 
asked  for  an  extension.    They  refused  to  give  it, 

taunted  him  with  his  poverty  and  said  he  made 
115 


The  Cobra's  Den 


no  effort  to  raise  the  money  to  pay  them,  and 
that  he  must  in  some  way,  raise  the  money  and 
pay  them  immediately.  He  in  turn  complained 
of  them  as  oppressors. 

They  flew  into  a  rage,  pounced  upon  him, 
gave  him  a  beating,  and  knocked  him  over  on 
a  heap  of  granite,  inflicting  a  number  of  wounds 
and  injuries.  They  were  somewhat  startled  to 
see  the  wounds  as  evidence  of  their  assault,  and 
withdrew  to  their  banking  bazaar,  to  consult 
what  to  do.  The  wounded  man,  saying  that  he 
would  complain  against  them  for  assault,  went 
to  the  house  of  a  yakil,  or  native  lawyer,  to  get 
him  to  formulate  the  complaint  in  the  magis- 
trate's court.  The  assailants  rushed  directly  to 
the  magistrate,  and  clamorously  laid  charges 
against  the  injured  man,  that  he  had  made  an 
attack  upon  them,  and  that  simply  in  defending 
themselves  they  had  chanced  to  inflict  wounds 
upon  him,  and  demanded  the  arrest  of  the  in- 
jured man. 

As  in  Solomon's  time,  "on  the  side  of  the 
oppressors  there  was  power,"  the  injured  man 
was  arrested  and  charged  with  assault  upon  the 
soticars.  The  case  came  before  the  Brahman 
magistrate  referred  to  above  for  trial.  Each 
party  was  ordered  to  produce  its  witnesses. 

116 


A  Brahman's  Testimony 

The  prosecuting  party,  the  soiicars,  all  ap- 
peared and  told  the  same  story;  they  had  sum- 
moned a  large  number  of  witnesses  who  swore 
that  this  poor  man  had  violently  assaulted  them, 
and  that  they  had  simply  acted  in  self-defence, 
and  wounded  him. 

No  one  dared  to  appear  in  behalf  of  the  poor 
wounded  man;  one  or  two  were  summoned, 
who  had  been  within  sight  and  hearing  when 
the  assault  occurred,  but  fearing  the  vengeance  of 
the  powerful  clique  on  the  other  side,  refused  to 
testify,  declaring  they  knew  nothing  of  the  case. 

The  simple  story  of  the  injured  man,  that  he 
had  himself  been  violently  attacked,  beaten  and 
wounded  by  these  men,  and  that  they  simply 
to  shield  themselves  had  brought  this  charge 
against  him  was  unsupported  by  any  testimony. 

Here  in  India  a  powerful  party  can  hire  any 
number  of  Hindu  witnesses  for  a  quarter  of  a 
dollar  each,  to  swear  to  anything  they  wish  to 
have  proven,  but  there  is  no  sense  of  justice 
which  compels  a  man  to  testify  for  an  innocent 
or  injured  party,  when  he  thinks  he  will,  either 
socially  or  otherwise,  be  the  loser  thereby. 

The  Brahman  magistrate  knew  not  what  to 

think;  he  strongly  suspected  that  the  charge 

made  by  the  soucars  was  a  false  one,  but  the 
117 


The  Cobra's  Den 


sworn  testimony  in  their  behalf  was  very  strong ; 
he  knew  not  quite  what  course  to  take.  On  a 
little  reflection  he  turned  to  a  police  constable 
who  appeared  on  the  scene  just  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  assault,  asking  if  he  knew  of  any  one  else 
who  had  seen  the  assault  and  could  testify  to 
what  had  really  occurred. 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  he,  "the  catechist  of  the 
American  mission  was  standing  in  the  main 
street,  at  the  head  of  this  Bazaar  street,  and  ap- 
peared to  have  seen  all  that  went  on."  His 
house  was  near  at  hand;  the  magistrate  sum- 
moned him,  and  told  him  he  wished  his  testi- 
mony as  to  what  had  really  occurred. 

He  was  put  under  oath,  upon  the  Bible,  and 
said  that  as  he  was  passing  by  in  the  main  street 
on  his  way  to  the  hospital  that  morning,  to  ob- 
tain medicine  for  his  sick  wife,  he  had  heard  an 
altercation  and  stopping  to  see  what  it  meant,  he 
had  seen  these  three  soucars  spring  from  their 
seat  in  the  veranda  of  their  bazaar,  upon  this 
man,  who  now  stood  as  defendant,  and  give 
him  a  beating  and  knock  him  violently  on  to 
an  adjacent  heap  of  stones,  and  told  in  detail  all 
that  had  passed.  He  was  cross-questioned,  but 
his  simple  statement  remained  unbroken.  The 
magistrate  sent  to  the  hospital  and  found  that  at 

118 


A  Brahman's  Testimony 

the  hour  named  the  catechist  had  appeared  at 
the  hospital  to  obtain  medicine  as  he  had  stated. 

The  case  against  the  poor  man  was  dismissed. 
The  prosecutors  were  charged  with  assault  upon 
the  poor  man,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  pun- 
ishment. 

"  The  records  of  the  case  in  full,"  said  the  Eng- 
lish magistrate,  "  came  before  me  for  perusal  and 
for  revision,  if  I  saw  cause.  1  read  the  case  with 
all  the  testimony  very  carefully.  The  next  day 
the  Brahman  magistrate  called  and  I  said  to  him, 
'  How  is  it  that  with  so  many  witnesses  testify- 
ing so  strongly  in  favour  of  the  prosecution,  and 
very  little  more  than  this  one  witness  for  the  de- 
fence, you  dismiss  their  case,  and  proceed  against 
the  accusers  ? '  The  native  magistrate  replied, 
'  These  men  seemed  to  me  to  be  bearing  false 
witness.  Their  testimony  looked  as  though  they 
had  all  been  instructed  just  what  to  say.  I  be- 
lieved they  were  hired  to  swear  to  what  they 
did.  But,  this  man  was  a  Christian,  and  I  be- 
lieve he  spoke  the  truth.'  And  in  looking  over 
the  case,"  said  the  English  magistrate,  "1  think 
that  the  native  magistrate  was  right,  and  the 
conviction  of  the  accusers  stands." 

"  1  told  you  this,"  said  the  superior  magistrate, 
"for  I  think  it  will  encourage  you  in  your  work, 

119 


The  Cobra's  Den 


to  know  that  even  non-Christian  officials  regard 
the  Christians  as  worthy  of  belief  because  they 
are  Christians." 

It  did  encourage  me,  and  it  encourages  me 
more  as  I  look  over  the  country  and  see  the 
growing  feeling  among  all  classes,  that  the  reli- 
gion of  Jesus  does  elevate  those  who  truly  em- 
brace it,  to  a  higher  level  of  morality,  and  a  no- 
bler stand  in  all  that  is  good. 

There  are  many  now  everywhere  who  are 
ready  to  reiterate  the  Brahman's  declaration, 
"  He  was  a  Christian  and  I  believe  he  spoke  the 
truth." 


120 


XIII 


A  DAYBREAK  AUDIENCE  AND  A  CHASE  FOR  A  TIGER 

It  was  three  weeks  after  the  angry  mob  had 
heard  and  melted  at  the  Story  of  The  Cross.  We, 
myself  and  four  native  assistants,  had  come  on 
more  than  a  hundred  miles  farther  north  in  the 
kingdom  of  Hyderabad.  Yesterday  had  occurred 
the  incidents  given  in  "  The  Man  with  the  Won- 
derful Books"  as  recounted  in  the  preceding  vol- 
ume. We  had,  on  that  afternoon  preached  for 
eight  hours,  from  two  to  ten  p.  m.,  to  an  ever- 
growing audience  of  people  hastily  gathered 
from  many  villages.  One  of  us  at  a  time  had 
gone  away  to  rest,  and  eat,  while  the  others 
were  setting  forth  anew,  and  with  more  and 
more  incidents,  the  life  and  work  and  power  and 
mercy  of  "the  God  Man  "  who  had  appeared  on 
earth  for  man's  salvation,  and  supplying  them 
with  "The  History  of  the  Divine  Guru  " — the  gos- 
pels— and  with  booklets  explaining  them,  which 
they  had  eagerly  purchased  for  one  dub  each. 
At  ten  o'clock  we  had  told  them  that  we  must  lie 

down  and  rest  now  as  we  were  very  weary  with 
121 


The  Cobra's  Den 


our  long  journey  of  the  morning,  and  with  our 
continued  preaching  of  the  afternoon  and  evening, 
and  must  now  get  some  sleep,  for  we  must  be 
again  on  our  way  at  daylight,  and  they  reluc- 
tantly withdrew. 

On  our  arrival  at  near  noon,  they  had  taken  us 
to  a  small,  granite  built  Hindu  temple  in  a  tope, 
or  grove,  fronting  their  village,  and  bidden  us 
put  up  in  that,  for  if  those  wonderful  books  they 
had  before  obtained  and  read  were  true,  they  did 
not  want  this  temple  and  these  gods  any  more. 
They  had  themselves  assisted  in  taking  our  things 
into  the  temple,  placing  my  folding  traveller's 
cot  where,  as  1  lay  resting  while  my  breakfast 
was  preparing,  I  could  reach  out  my  hand  and  lay 
it  on  the  chief  idol  and  say.  Yes,  this  is  one  of 
those  of  which  it  is  said,  in  my  Book  of  Instruc- 
tions, "The  idols  He  shall  utterly  abolish."  We 
had  not  therefore  pitched  our  tents  nor  unloaded 
them  from  the  carts. 

At  eleven  o'clock,  when  the  last  of  the  people 

had  gone,  and  we  had  had  our  evening  prayers, 

we  lay  down  to  sleep  in  the  portico  of  the  temple, 

for  it  was  too  hot  and  close  to  sleep  inside.  Too 

much  interested  in  and  excited  by  the  events  of 

the  preceding  day,  1  slept  but  little.    As  my  eyes 

opened,  along  through  the  night  watches,  to- 
122 


A  Chase  for  a  Tiger 

ward  the  streets  of  the  village,  I  could  see  un- 
usual lights  burning,  way  on  until  dawn.  At  the 
first  break  of  day  we  arose  and  put  our  beds, 
luggage  and  boxes  of  books  upon  our  carts,  to 
start  upon  another  day's  march  and  another  day's 
preaching.  Until  a  fortnight  before  we  had  been 
wont  to  start  considerably  earlier,  but  since  we 
•  entered  this  jungly,  sparsely  populated  region,  so 
infested  with  ravenous  beasts,  prudence  had  re- 
quired that  we  wait  until  the  daylight  had  driven 
them  back  to  their  lairs. 

Just  as  we  were  starting,  a  grc^p  of  people 
from  the  village  came  up,  saying,  "Sirs,  this  is 
such  strange  news,  and  so  good  if  true,  that  we 
have  been  reading  these  books  all  night  to  see  if 
there  were  anything  in  them  which  we  did  not 
understand,  so  that  we  could  ask  your  ex- 
planation before  you  went  on,  for  we  may  never 
see  a  missionary  again."  And  one  of  them 
opened  a  gospel,  with  leaves  turned  down  here 
and  there,  and  began  asking  questions,  while  all 
listened  eagerly  for  the  reply.  Seeing  that  it 
would  take  some  time  to  answer  all  their  ques- 
tions, and  thinking  that  as  the  sun  was  now  soon 
to  rise,  all  danger  from  ravenous  beasts  was  past, 
1  proposed  to  my  native  associates  to  go  on  with 
the  equipment,  as  we  wished  to  reach  the  next 

123 


The  Cobra's  Den 


village,  some  five  miles  ahead,  before  the  people 
had  gone  out  to  the  fields  to  work,  and  saying 
that  I  would  answer  these  questions  and  then 
canter  on  rapidly  and  overtake  them.  They 
went  on.  I  turned  to  answer  the  questions,  but 
so  many  leaves  were  turned  down,  and  so  ear- 
nestly did  they  ask  question  after  question,  that  it 
was  fully  three-quarters  of  an  hour  before  I  could 
get  away. 

The  last  question  they  asked  was  one  I  could 
not  answer.  They  had,  after  many  questions 
about  incidents  in  the  gospels,  and  about  the 
character  and  the  claims  of  the  God  Man,  asked 
as  to  where  it  was  that  He  became  man,  and  was 
born  a  babe,  and  whether  He  were  a  white  man, 
or  like  them.  I  had  told  them  that  in  a  land  mid- 
way between  their  country  and  the  land  of  the 
white  Christians,  and  among  Asiatic  people, 
much  like  themselves,  with  a  similar  dress  and 
customs  and  of  a  complexion  between  theirs  and 
mine,  among  a  people  especially  prepared  of  the 
great  God  for  His  advent,  this  Son  of  God  had 
taken  on  human  form  for  our  redemption.  They 
seemed  pleased  that  He  was  more  like  them  than 
we  foreigners,  and  asked, 

"  How  long  ago  did  this  happen  ?  "  1  told  them 
the  number  of  centuries,  and  how  He  had  com- 

124 


A  Chase  for  a  Tiger 

manded  His  disciples  to  go  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  this  gospel  to  every  creature  and  how,  in 
process  of  time,  the  good  news  had  reached  the 
western  lands,  and  they  all  had  become  Chris- 
tians, and  how  now,  because  His  love  burned  in 
their  hearts,  they  had  sent  me  and  many  others 
to  come  to  their  land  and  learn  their  language 
and  give  them  the  glad  news. 

"Sir,  did  you  say  that  this  Yesu  Kn'stu  (Jesus 
Christ)  came  into  the  world  and  did  all  this  more 
than  1, 800  years  ago?" 

"  Yes,"  said  I. 

"Sir,  if  this  be  true  why  have  you  Christians 
not  told  us  of  it  before?"  I  could  not  answer 
that  question.  I  wonder  if  any  one  who  reads 
this  can  answer  it. 

At  last  bidding  them  a  loving  farewell  and 
commending  them  to  Him  of  whom  so  late  they 
had  heard,  I  mounted  my  horse  and  hastened  to 
follow  my  people. 

There  were  no  roads  in  that  region.  We  had 
guides  to  show  us  the  most  feasible  path  from 
village  to  village.  For  parts  of  our  journey  we 
had  low  narrow  carts  with  wheels  of  solid  wood 
cut  from  the  trunk  of  a  large  tree,  and  with  buf- 
faloes to  draw  them.  In  other  places  everything 
had  to  be  carried  on  the  heads  of  coolies.  Here 

125 


The  Cobra's  Den 


we  had  carts.  The  guides  were  conducting  the 
party  along  tlie  sandy,  dry  bed  of  a  crooked  little 
stream  on  the  upper  banks  of  which  the  next 
village  was  built.  1  struck  the  stream  and  can- 
tered up  it  to  overtake  our  party.  As  usual  I  kept 
a  sharp  watch  of  the  path  and  of  the  bushes  at 
the  sides. 

I  had  not  gone  a  quarter  of  a  mile  before  I 
caught  sight  of  the  tracks  of  a  very  large  tiger, 
the  largest  tiger  tracks  I  had  ever  seen.  We 
had  been  in  the  tiger  jungle  now  for  two 
weeks.  On  the  path  over  which  we  had  passed 
the  preceding  day  seven  people  had  recently 
been  killed  and  eaten  by  these  "  Man  Eaters  "  as 
tigers  that  have  tasted  human  blood  are  called. 
We  had  kept  blazing  camp-fires  around  our  tent 
by  night  for  ten  days.  But  on  a  bright  day, 
especially  a  bright  morning,  the  tigers  usually 
keep  in  the  jungle,  coming  out  by  day  when  it  is 
cloudy  or  toward  nightfall.  The  sun  was  now 
up  and  shining  brilliantly.  What  could  this 
mean?  I  sprang  from  my  horse  and  kneeled 
down  to  examine  the  tracks  and  see  whether 
they  had  been  made  before  or  after  our  party  had 
passed.  There  they  were,  planted  squarely  over 
the  track  of  the  last  cart,  and  evidently  following 
it. 

126 


A  Chase  for  a  Tiger 


The  mystery  was  explained,  for,  along  by  the 
side  of  the  big  tracks,  1  now  found  the  small 
tracks  of  a  tiger  cub.  It  was  an  old  mother 
tiger,  who,  hampered  with  the  care  of  her  cub, 
had  not  been  able  to  get  her  prey  during  the 
night  and  who,  in  spite  of  the  sun,  was  now  out 
searching  for  breakfast  for  herself  and  child. 
She  was  following  the  carts,  waiting  for  a 
chance  to  spring.  The  tigers  of  these  jungles 
never  spring  into  a  crowd  of  people.  They  lurk 
and  wait  until  one  falls  in  the  rear  or  goes  to  one 
side  and  then  spring  upon  him.  1  saw  at  once 
the  danger  in  which  my  native  assistants  walk- 
ing with  the  carts  were  placed.  So  long  as  they 
kept  together  and  close  by  the  carts  they  were 
pretty  safe.  Should  one  of  them  stop  to  quench 
his  thirst  at  a  little  rocky  pool  in  the  side  of  the 
river,  or  for  any  other  purpose.  Mistress  Tiger 
would  be  upon  him,  and  the  little  one  would 
have  its  first  quaff  of  Christian  pieacher's  blood. 

Springing  onto  my  pony  I  struck  the  spurs  into 
his  side  and  dashed  forward  furiously.  I  always 
carried  with  me,  in  the  jungle,  a  fourteen  inch 
navy  revolver  loaded  with  rifle  balls.  I  had 
practiced  until  1  could  bring  down  a  squirrel  or  a 
crow  with  it.  I  knew  I  might  not  kill  a  tiger, 
but  with  accurate  shooting  I  might  blind  or  dis- 

127 


The  Cobra's  Den 


able  it,  if  no  more,  and  at  all  events  I  must  share 
the  danger  whatever  it  be,  with  my  native  asso- 
ciates. Could  I  reach  them  before  the  spring 
were  made  I  might  avert  the  danger.  On  I 
dashed  for  one  mile.  The  tracks  were  still  there. 
From  my  unusual  use  of  the  spurs  my  faithful 
horse  saw  there  was  something  wrong  and  be- 
came excited.  The  second  mile  was  covered 
with  leaps  and  bounds  with  the  pistol  ready 
cocked  in  my  right  hand  and  my  eye  watching 
every  bush  and  every  rod  of  the  river,  we  went 
flying  over  the  third  mile.  In  my  anxiety  to 
reach  my  men  in  time  to  warn  and  save  them  I 
could  scarcely  breathe.  I  knew  I  must  be  near- 
ing  them.  The  tracks  big  and  little  were  still 
there. 

Suddenly  a  sharp  turn  in  the  river  brought 
the  carts  into  sight  moving  along  peacefully, 
and  I  could  see  the  four  native  preachers,  and 
the  cook  and  the  tent  lascar  walking  along 
together,  close  by  the  carts.  I  knew  they  were 
safe.  I  had  reined  up  my  horse  so  they  should 
not  see  me.  I  looked  and  the  tracks  had  disap- 
peared. Just  before  the  bend  I  had  seen  them. 
The  tiger  had  doubtless  been  lurking  there.  As 
it  had  heard  the  furious  clatter  of  my  horse's 
shoes  on  the  gravel,  as  I  turned  the  preceding 

128 


A  Chase  for  a  Tiger 

bend  only  a  few  rods  back,  it  had  doubtless 
sprang  with  its  cub,  behind  the  bush  on  the  jut- 
ting corner,  which  was  so  near  as  to  brush  my 
stirrup  as  I  passed.  And  very  likely  its  breath 
had  fallen  on  me  as  I  flew  by  at  too  rapid  a  gait 
for  it  to  spring  on  me. 

Keeping  just  far  enough  back  not  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  party  in  front  and  watching 
the  jungle  intently  on  both  sides  of  the  stream  to 
see  if  the  tiger  should  again  appear,  I  lingered  in 
the  rear  for  some  twenty  minutes  for  my  horse 
to  cool  down,  for  though  a  bay  horse  he  was 
white  with  foam  when  I  passed  the  tiger  bend, 
and  I  knew  that,  if  1  joined  the  party  in  that  con- 
dition, apprehension  would  be  excited,  and  ques- 
tions asked  which  it  would  be  difficult  for  me  to 
parry,  for  I  did  not  want  them  then  to  know 
what  a  narrow  escape  they  had  had,  as  we  still 
had  100  miles  of  this  tiger  jungle  before  us. 
Presently  joining  them  I  began  at  once  to  teR 
them  what  an  interesting  time  I  had  had  with 
the  people  of  the  last  village,  after  they  left,  and 
what  earnest  questions  they  asked  and  so  kept 
on  talking  until  we  reached  the  next  village  and 
were  absorbed  again  in  the  work  of  the  Master. 

They  never  knew,  until  we  had  reached  home 
nearly  four  months  later,  of  their  danger  and  de- 

129 


The  Cobra's  Den 


liverance  that  morning,  nor  of  several  other  dan- 
gers known  only  to  myself,  through  which  they 
passed  unharmed.  How  appropriate  sounded 
the  ninety-first  psalm  that  night  at  our  evening 
prayers  in  our  tent,  for  once  again  we  had  felt 
the  presence  of  the  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you." 


130 


XIV 


THE  SPOTTED  TIGER  FOILED 

My  camp  was  pitched  in  a  valley  between 
mountains  towering  up  4,000  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  1,700  feet  above  my  tent.  I  had  been  visit- 
ing, instructing,  and  encouraging  the  little  Chris- 
tian congregation  there,  and  preaching  in  all  the 
surrounding  towns  and  villages  for  several  days. 
It  was  necessary  to  move  camp  that  day  to  an- 
other cluster  of  Christian  villages  on  the  other 
side  of  the  mountain,  many  miles  around  by  a 
tortuous  route  through  the  valleys.  I  had  much 
writing  to  do,  and  did  not  wish  to  spend  the 
time  for  a  circuitous  journey,  so  despatched  my 
tent  and  camp  equipage  in  the  early  morning,  to 
be  pitched  in  the  new  place,  and  sent  word  to 
the  people  of  that  cluster  of  villages  that  I  would 
hold  a  meeting  in  the  central  village  that  evening 
at  dusk.  My  pony  was  to  meet  me  at  the  east 
foot  of  the  mountain  to  take  me  three  miles  to 
my  new  camp. 

Spending  a  good  part  of  the  day  in  the  little 
village  schoolhouse,  quietly   writing  letters,  I 

131 


The  Cobra's  Den 


walked  up  the  mountain-side  in  the  afternoon  by 
a  footpath  that  I  knew.  Halfway  up  I  stopped 
to  rest  under  a  banyan-tree,  or  jungle  fig-tree, 
where,  a  year  before,  a  native  farmer,  running 
down  the  path,  had  come  upon  an  old  she-bear 
and  her  cub,  under  this  tree,  eating  the  wild  figs. 
The  old  bear,  thinking  he  was  rushing  for  her 
cub,  sprang  upon  him,  hugged  him,  and  badly 
mangled  his  right  arm  until  her  cub  had  vanished 
in  the  bushes,  when  she  left  him  and  followed 
her  cub.  The  man  was  brought  into  my  hos- 
pital, and  for  many  weeks  it  was  a  question 
whether  he  would  ever  regain  the  use  of  his 
right  arm.  He  finally  did,  however,  and  when 
the  English  judge  of  the  district  organised  a  hunt 
for  that  bear,  in  which  I  joined,  he  was  there  to 
show  us  where  the  tussle  had  taken  place,  and 
help  us  find  his  old  enemy. 

There  are  many  wild  beasts  inhabiting  these 
mountain  jungles:  wild  boar,  deer,  Indian  elk, 
hyenas,  jackals,  wolves,  an  occasional  striped 
tiger,  and  more  spotted  tigers. 

The  spotted  tigers  have  spots  like  a  leopard, 
but  are  not  leopards,  for  they  have  claws  like  a 
tiger  and  cannot  climb  trees  as  a  leopard  can.  In 
size  they  are  between  the  royal  tiger  and  the 
leopard.    In  disposition  and  habits  they  are 

132 


The  Spotted  Tiger  Foiled 

tigers  and  they  have  a  tiger's  strength.  A  friend 
of  mine,  from  an  opposite  hill,  saw  one  of  them 
spring  upon  a  small  horse,  kill  it,  suck  its  blood, 
and  then  drag  it  to  its  lair  in  the  mountain  re- 
cess. The  spotted  tigers  do  far  more  damage  in 
our  region  than  the  striped,  as  they  are  much 
more  numerous.  If  one  gets  a  taste  of  human 
flesh  nothing  else  will  satisfy  it;  but  such  diet 
soon  makes  it  mangy,  and  shortens  its  life. 

The  government  pays  a  reward  for  the  killing 
of  all  ravenous  beasts,  and  especially  for  those 
that  are  known  to  have  killed  human  beings. 
The  skins  are  delivered  to  the  government  offi- 
cial who  pays  the  reward,  and  were  at  that  time 
periodically  sold  at  auction.  At  such  a  sale, 
which  1  attended  and  made  some  purchases,  the 
skin  of  one  spotted  tiger  was  sold,  which  was 
certified  to  have  killed  and  eaten  nine  men, 
women  and  children.  Another  had  killed  seven; 
another  five;  another  four,  and  another  two. 

We  usually  carry  arms  through  these  mountain 
jungles,  but  that  day  I  had  none.  1  had  made 
the  ascent  of  1,700  feet  and,  walking  along  the 
west  slope  of  the  summit  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile, 
I  had  crossed  over  to  the  east  side  of  the  rocky 
crest. 

It  was  now  one  hour  before  sundown,  of  a 

133 


The  Cobra's  Den 


cloudy,  drizzly  afternoon.  I  had  my  double  um- 
brella, black  inside  and  white  outside,  for  fending 
off  both  sun  and  rain,  but  had  closed  it  over  my 
hand,  without  clasping  it,  to  go  through  a  nar- 
row opening  in  the  bushes.  I  had  crossed  a  lit- 
tle open  grass-plot  of  a  few  rods,  and  was  just 
entering  a  narrow  footpath  through  the  mountain 
jungle,  that  would  take  me  down  to  the  east  foot 
of  the  mountain,  where  I  was  to  meet  my  pony. 

Suddenly  a  spotted  tiger  sprang  into  the  path, 
between  the  bushes,  and  disputed  passage.  I 
saw  at  once  what  he  wanted;  only  great  hunger 
impels  these  tigers  to  come  out  during  the  day; 
he  had  had  no  breakfast,  and  wanted  missionary 
meat  for  supper.  I  did  not  wish  him  to  have  it: 
I  had  an  appointment  for  that  evening  with  the 
people  of  three  villages,  and  wished  to  keep  it. 
He  stood  in  the  only  path  through  that  dense 
mountain  jungle,  glaring  at  me.  1  eyed  him 
equally  intently,  and,  gaining  his  eye,  held  it 
while  I  formed  my  plan. 

it  is  always  best  if  a  scrimmage  is  to  take  place 
to  be  the  attacking  party.  My  old  grandmother 
used  to  teach  me  that  everything  would  come  in 
use  within  seven  years,  if  you  only  kept  it. 
When  I  was  a  boy  I  had  gone  out  among  an  In- 
dian tribe  in  Michigan,  and  learned  their  war- 

134 


The  Spotted  Tiger  foiled 

whoop.  1  had  kept  it  for  thrice  seven  years,  but 
it  proved  trebly  serviceable  then.  When  my 
plan  of  attack  was  formed,  springing  forward 
toward  the  tiger  I  raised  this  war-whoop,  and  at 
the  same  time  suddenly  opened  my  double  um- 
brella. 

What  it  was  that  could  so  suddenly  change  a 
perpendicular  dark  figure  into  a  circular  white 
object,  and  at  the  same  time  emit  such  an  un- 
earthly yell,  the  tiger  did  not  know.  He  stood 
his  ground,  however,  until  1  dashed  forward  and, 
suddenly  shutting  my  umbrella,  raised  it  to  strike 
him  over  the  head.  It  seemed  instantly  to  occur 
to  him  that  1  was  the  more  dangerous  animal  of 
the  two,  and  that  one  of  us  had  better  run;  as  1 
did  not,  he  did.  Springing  aside,  over  a  bush, 
into  the  open  ground,  he  made  for  the  crest  of 
the  hill  which  I  had  just  passed.  The  crest  con- 
sisted of  granite  slabs  and  masses,  thrown  up 
perpendicularly  by  some  convulsion  of  nature. 
From  a  crevice  of  these  there  had  grown  a  ban- 
yan-tree whose  branches  spread  out  over  their 
tops.  Between  the  leaves  and  the  rocks,  in  one 
place,  1  could  see  the  sky  through,  in  a  circle  as 
large  as  a  bicycle  wheel. 

For  this  the  tiger  made.  His  spring  was  the 
neatest  specimen  of  animal  motion  1  had  ever 

135 


The  Cobra's  Den 


seen.  His  forepaws  were  stretched  straight  out 
and  he  had  his  nose  between  them.  His  hind 
feet  were  stretched  equally  straight,  and  between 
them  his  tail.  Straight  as  an  arrow  he  went 
through  that  opening.  I  knew  that  about  twenty 
feet  down  on  the  other  side  he  would  strike  on 
grassy  ground,  and  that  that  slope  led  down  to  a 
little  stream,  which  my  path  again  crossed  less 
than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  below.  Wishing  to 
make  the  subjugation  complete,  I  scrambled  up 
to  this  open  place  and,  looking  through  the  leaves 
at  the  side  of  the  opening,  I  saw  the  tiger  trotting 
down  the  slope,  but  looking  around  every  now 
and  then,  evidently  wondering  whether  he  had 
done  a  wise  thing  in  running  away. 

Putting  my  head  with  its  big,  white,  sun  hat 
into  the  opening  I  once  more  raised  the  war- 
whoop.  Down  he  dashed  again  with  impetu- 
osity. Withdrawing  my  head  until  he  slackened 
his  pace,  1  repeated  the  operation,  and  on  he 
dashed,  and  so  continued,  until  I  had  seen  him 
cross  the  stream,  and  go  up  into  the  woods  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  valley.  Then,  feeling 
sure  that  1  would  see  no  more  of  him  that  day,  I 
turned  and  wended  my  way  down  three  miles 
to  the  foot  of  the  hill,  mounted  my  pony  and 
kept  my  appointment. 

136 


The  Spotted  Tiger  Foiled 

I  am  thankful  to  say  that  such  incidents  are 
not  common  in  our  preaching  tours.  I  have 
never  known  of  a  missionary  being  seriously  in- 
jured by  ravenous  beasts  or  venomous  reptiles. 
But  such  an  incident  forcibly  reminds  us  of  the 
protection  promised  in  the  last  few  verses  of  the 
gospels  of  Matthew  and  Mark,  in  connection 
with  the  giving  of  the  Great  Commission,  and 
that  promise  is  wonderfully  fulfilled. 


137 


XV 


THE  HEAT  IN  INDIA :  HOW  I  KEEP  MY  STUDY  COOL 

"The  thermometer  is  102°  with  us.  How  is 
it  with  you  ?"  says  a  letter  lying  before  me.  An- 
other says:  "  Thermometer  107°  in  my  office  all 
day,  and  97°  in  my  house  all  night.  How  are 
you  standing  it?"  And  the  paper  to-day  says: 
"Thermometer  in  the  shade  averaged  ioi^°, 
during  the  heat  of  the  day,  all  last  week  in 
Madras,  going  as  high  as  108°  one  day." 

Now,  what  am  I  to  do  ?  It  is  only  the  28th  of 
April,  and  1  have  my  heaviest  literary  work,  in 
the  translating  of  the  Bible,  to  do  between  now 
and  July.  Above  95°  the  brain  refuses  to  work 
vigorously,  and,  more  than  that,  my  old  friend, 
the  jungle  fever,  seizes  those  times  for  his  visits. 
If  I  can  manage  to  pull  the  thermometer  down 
ten  degrees,  I  can  keep  the  fever  off,  and  keep  my 
brain  in  a  working  condition.  I  have  had  to 
make  a  diligent  study  of  this  problem,  and  have 
met  with  some  success.  It  may  be  interesting  to 
others  to  know  what  means  I  take. 

We  are  in  latitude  13°  north,  or  800  miles 

138 


How  I  Keep  My  Study  Cool 

further  south  than  the  southern  end  of  Florida. 
Our  "hot  season"  begins  in  March,  and  ends  in 
October,  though  we  have  some  relief  during 
July  and  August,  when  the  sun  is  north  of  us. 
March  is  hot,  April  is  hotter,  and  May  is  scorch- 
ing. September,  and  part  of  October,  too,  are 
blistering.  I  have  seen  the  thermometer  at  103° 
on  the  15th  of  October.  It  pays  us,  therefore,  to 
give  our  attention  to  keeping  cool  here,  as  much 
as  it  does  you  to  keeping  warm  in  the  winter  in 
America.  And  those  of  us  who  have  close 
literary  work  to  do  must  give  special  attention 
to  it. 

My  house  is,  India  fashion,  of  one-story,  but  is 
smaller  and  lower  than  Europeans'  houses  usually 
are  in  this  country.  It  consists  of  a  row  of  rooms 
twelve  feet  wide,  stretching  on  one  after  another, 
and  all  opening  on  a  veranda  in  front.  My  study 
is  the  south  end  of  the  house.  It  is  twelve  by 
ten  feet.  Two  ends  and  one  side  are  covered 
with  books.  In  the  middle  of  each  end  is  a  door. 
The  south  side  has  a  window,  and  my  large 
study-table  standing  against  the  wall.  The 
study-table  ends  against  one  set  of  book 
shelves  and  has  another  set  on  it,  so  that  1  can 
reach  300  volumes  without  leaving  my  chair.  It 
has  slides  which  pull  out  so  as  almost  to  enclose 

139 


The  Cobra's  Den 


my  chair,  so  that  I  can  have  fifteen  volumes  open 
under  my  eye  as  I  sit  in  my  study-chair,  which 
stands  thus  almost  in  the  centre  of  the  room  and 
directly  between  the  east  and  west  doors. 

Outside  of  the  west  door  is  a  little  flat-roof 
bathroom,  with,  however,  a  door  opening  out- 
doors from  that,  on  the  west  side,  so  that  there 
is  a  clear  sweep  for  the  wind  through  from  east 
to  west  and  from  west  to  east.  The  roof,  only 
eight  feet  above  my  head  as  I  sit,  is  of  tiles,  rest- 
ing on  palmyra  rafters.  We  have  no  plastered 
ceilings  here,  but,  to  keep  the  heat  from  striking 
through  the  tiles  on  our  heads,  we  have  sheeting 
sewed  together  and  stretched  across  where  a 
ceiling  should  be.  This  we  take  down  and  wash, 
from  time  to  time,  in  place  of  white-washing. 

The  low,  tiled  roof,  however,  lets  the  heat 
through  unmercifully.  So  I  have  put  up  pillars 
a  foot  high  on  the  eaves  and  the  ridge,  and, 
placing  bamboos  on  them,  have  made  a  thick 
thatch  roof,  which  not  only  covers  the  tile  roof 
but  comes  down,  making  a  veranda  ten  feet 
wide  all  around,  thus  keeping  the  sun  off  the 
walls.  There  is  thus  a  foot  of  air  always  circu- 
lating between  the  two  roofs,  and  that  helps  a 
good  deal  to  keep  my  study  from  being  heated 
by  the  sun. 

140 


How  I  Keep  My  Study  Cool 

"  How  do  I  cool  the  air  in  the  study  ?"  That 
is  the  best  of  it.  We  take  the  root  of  the  ktiskiis, 
an  aromatic  plant,  whose  root,  when  washed  and 
prepared,  looks  not  unlike  fine  oat  straw,  with  a 
refreshing  odour  when  wet,  and  braid  this  into  a 
screen  a  little  larger  than  the  door  before  which 
it  is  to  be  hung.  It  is  fastened  to  the  door- 
frame at  the  top,  and  tied  out  two  feet  at  the 
bottom  so  as  to  be  slanting.  If  this  can  in  any 
way  be  kept  moist,  the  intensely  dry  air  at  this 
season,  in  passing  through  it,  sucks  up  the 
moisture  very  rapidly,  and  the  process  of  evap- 
oration cools  the  air  some  ten  or  twelve  degrees. 
I  have  one  of  these  over  my  eastern  door,  and 
one  over  the  western,  so  that,  which  ever  way 
the  wind  blows  from,  it  must  pass  through  one 
of  these  "kuskus  tatties,"  as  we  call  them.  To 
keep  them  wet  I  contrived  some  years  ago  a  self- 
tipping  trough,  which  is  hung  on  a  pivot  at  each 
end  just  above  the  "tatty." 

The  trough  is  a  V,  with  one  lip  shorter  and 

more  perpendicular,  and  the  other  longer  and 

running  out  more  horizontally.    Against  the 

wall,  over  one  end  of  this,  is  suspended  a  square 

tub,  with  a  faucet  which  allows  the  water  to 

trickle  into  the  trough.    The  water  trickling  into 

the  trough  rises  slowly,  spreading  out  on  the 
141 


The  Cobra's  Den 


more  horizontal  lip  of  the  trough  until  that 
becomes  the  heaviest,  and  over  it  tips,  with  a 
splash  that  sends  the  water  all  over  the  slanting 
tatty. 

I  turn  the  faucet  to  let  the  water  run  faster  or 
slower  according  to  the  dryness  of  the  atmos- 
phere. Some  days  it  must  tip  once  a  minute  to 
keep  the  tatty  wet.  To-day,  as  I  sit  writing,  it 
tips  only  once  in  three  minutes,  as  the  air  is  not 
so  dry.  It  takes  only  twelve  to  fifteen  gallons  of 
water  to  keep  one  going  all  day,  and  that,  in  a 
dry  day,  will  reduce  the  temperature  of  the  room 
from  ten  to  twelve  degrees,  and  the  whole  thing 
is  exceedingly  inexpensive.  Two  dollars  covers 
the  outlay  for  the  two  doors.  But  wait  a  mo- 
ment, while  I  take  my  douche,  for  my  head  is 
feeling  oppressed;  the  wind  has  lulled,  and  the 
air  is  not  so  cool  as  it  was  half  an  hour  ago. 

There,  I  have  had  my  head  douche,  and  my 
brain  is  relieved  again.  It  has  taken  me  one 
minute,  but  the  time  is  not  lost.  Some  of  these 
hot  days  I  could  not  get  on  without  it  and  do 
any  considerable  mental  work.  "What  is  this 
douche  ?  "  I  will  tell  you.  Hanging  up  over  the 
bathtub,  in  my  bathroom,  is  a  porous  water  jar, 
made  of  clay  and  baked  without  glazing,  and 
holding  about  four  gallons.    The  water  oozes 

142 


How  I  Keep  My  Study  Cool 

through  all  its  pores,  and  the  evaporation  from 
the  entire  external  surface  cools  the  water  to 
some  fifteen  to  twenty  degrees  below  the  sur- 
rounding atmosphere.  I  have  just  tried  the  ther- 
mometer in  it.  It  stands  at  74°,  which  is  ten 
degrees  cooler  than  the  water  was  when  drawn 
from  the  well  and  put  in  it  this  morning.  Over 
the  edge  of  this  water  jar — or  pitcher,  as  it  is 
called  in  the  Bible — hangs  a  bent  tube  syphon. 
I  bend  my  head  over  the  tub  and  under  the 
syphon,  and  start  the  water.  It  runs,  cool  and 
refreshing,  on  to  the  back  of  the  head  and  neck, 
cooling  the  brain  and  shriveling  up  the  congested 
blood-vessels,  and  giving  immense  relief.  My 
hair  I  keep  shingled  to  about  half  an  inch  in 
length,  and  this  retains  considerable  moisture  to 
evaporate  in  the  next  half  hour  or  so  and  keep 
up  the  cooling  process.  I  come  back  and  sit 
down  in  my  punka  chair,  and  my  head  feels 
almost  cold  for  a  little  time,  and  I  begin  to  think 
of  icebergs. 

My  punka  chair  is  a  comfort.    I  found  that  in 

my  Bible  translation  work,  where  I  have  to  have 

so  many  versions,  ancient  and  Oriental,  and  so 

many  dictionaries  and  books  of  reference  open, 

that  I  could  not  get  on  at  all  with  an  ordinary 

India  punka,  which  hangs  from  the  ceiling,  is 
143 


The  Cobra's  Den 


pulled  by  a  coolie  outside,  by  a  rope  running 
through  the  wall,  and  stirs  all  the  air  in  the 
room,  blowing  over  the  pages  of  the  books,  and 
fluttering  the  papers  on  one's  table.  So  some 
years  ago  I  devised  a  little  punka  to  be  attached 
to  an  ordinary  cane-seat  rocking-chair,  so  that  a 
slight  motion  of  the  chair  keeps  the  punka  in 
motion  directly  over  one's  head.  As  I  sit  up 
straight  in  the  chair,  the  punka-frill  just  touches 
my  hair  as  it  swings  back  and  forth.  It  cools 
the  head  and  does  not  disturb  the  books  and 
papers,  and  costs  nothing  to  work. 

If  the  hair  is  kept  moist,  its  cooling  effect  is 
marvellous,  and  the  motion  of  the  chair  is  so 
slight,  that  I  write  with  ease,  with  my  paper 
lying  on  the  table,  as  1  now  am  doing,  and  the 
punka  in  full  swing. 

With  these  contrivances  I  fight  the  hot  weather 
through  the  season,  and  manage  to  do  a  fair 
amount  of  work.  Without  them  I  would  be 
utterly  prostrated  with  such  work.  It  is  the 
hottest  hour  of  the  day  now,  but  I  am  holding 
the  thermometer  on  my  study-table  below  90° 
and  intend  to  continue  to  do  so  "all  summer." 


144 


XVI 


ODDITIES  OF  TRAVEL  IN  INDIA 

"Boy,  have  you  put  my  valise  and  bag  in  the 
coach?"  "Yes,  sir,  done  put,  sir."  "Are  the 
mattresses  and  pillows  in  ?"  "  Yes,  sir."  "And 
the  luncheon  box?"  "Yes,  sir."  "And  my 
sun  umbrella,  and  revolver,  and  pith  hat,  and 
boots?"    "All  done  put,  sir." 

The  "boy"  is  a  grey-haired  man,  but  that 
makes  no  difference;  for  the  general  servant, 
who  does  the  work  of  a  butler,  in  India  is  called 
"boy,"  even  though  he  be  a  Methusaleh.  It  is 
his  business  to  see  that  everything  is  put  in  the 
coach,  ready  for  a  journey  but  it  does  not  do  to 
trust  him  too  confidingly,  or  you  will  find,  after 
you  are  well  on  your  journey,  that  he  has  forgot- 
ten some  essential  thing.  So  you  must  yourself 
ask  after  each  thing  you  wish  to  take. 

"  Have  the  bullocks  and  driver  come  ?"  "  Yes, 
sir,  done  hitched  to  the  coach."  "Are  you  sure 
the  order  for  posting  bullocks  was  sent  on  all 
right?"  "Yes,  sir,  I  took  the  order  to  the  tah- 
sildar  myself,  and  while  I  was  there  he  started  a 
peon  on  ahead  with  it,  sir." 

145 


The  Cobra's  Den 


There  are  12,000  miles  of  railways  in  India, 
but  India  is  3,000  miles  long,  and  over  1,500 
broad  in  places,  and  there  is  no  railway  station 
within  twenty  miles  of  one-twentieth  of  the 
population  as  yet.  Many  important  towns  are 
still  fifty,  or  100  miles  distant  from  any  railway. 

I  am  just  off  for  a  journey  of  400  miles,  to  get 
a  little  breathing  spell  on  one  of  the  mountain 
ranges  in  the  Madras  presidency,  and  have  to 
travel  sixty  miles  to  the  nearest  railway  station. 
For  such  trips  we  have  to  indent  on  the  all-en- 
during bullocks  of  the  country.  Horses,  in  South 
India,  are  too  expensive  a  luxury  for  long  jour- 
neys. The  climate  is  against  them.  Good  horses 
have  to  be  imported,  and,  like  other  foreigners, 
they  easily  succumb  to  the  heat.  We  have  to 
keep  them  for  use  in  the  towns,  and  about  our 
daily  work,  but  they  are  very  rarely  used  for  long 
journeys  in  the  Madras  presidency.  Palanquins 
were  formerly  much  used,  but  with  the  good 
military  roads  which  the  British  government  in 
India  have  made  through  the  country,  they  have 
been  mostly  replaced  by  wheeled  vehicles.  Each 
European  resident  is  expected  to  keep  his  own 
travelling-coach,  and,  whenever  he  wishes  to 
take  a  journey,  he  sends  word  beforehand  to  the 
tahsildar,  or  county  magistrate,  as  to  the  route 

146 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 


he  wishes  to  go,  and  the  time  he  expects  to  start, 
and  orders  are  sent  on  in  advance  to  have  relays 
of  trotting  bullocks  ready  on  the  road  at  from  six 
to  eight  miles  apart,  each  yoke  of  bullocks  being 
accompanied  by  its  own  driver,  who  is  often  the 
owner  of  the  bullocks. 

As  often  as  you  come  to  the  end  of  a  stage,  you 
pay  the  driver  at  the  rate  of  six  or  nine  cents  per 
mile,  for  the  distance  he  has  come,  according  to 
the  official  way-bill  which  he  presents,  and  so 
you  go  on,  by  night  and  day,  to  the  end  of  your 
journey.  In  the  hot  weather,  however,  travelling 
is  always  done  in  the  night  when  practicable,  to 
avoid  the  heat,  and  because  the  bullocks  will 
travel  faster  by  night. 

The  usual  travelling  coach,  or  "gharry,"  is  a 
sort  of  two-wheeled  omnibus,  with  a  platform 
across  the  seats,  and  a  mattress  covering  the 
whole,  for  night  travel,  and  a  place  for  luggage 
underneath.  More  recently,  however,  lighter  four- 
wheeled  vehicles  are  coming  into  use.  The  one 
I  go  in  is  somewhat  like  a  "Jersey  rockaway," 
or  a  green  grocer's  wagon,  with  standing  cover, 
and  oilcloth  curtains  which  button  down  tight, 
even  in  front,  when  desired,  so  as  to  keep  out  all 
rain  in  the  Monsoon.    There  are  two  seats,  the 

front  flap  of  the  hind  one  opening  up  and  hook- 
147 


The  Cobra's  Den 


ing  on  to  the  front  one,  and  its  flap  hooking  on 
to  the  dashboard,  so  as  to  make  a  level  surface 
about  six  feet  by  three  inside.  On  this  a  mattress, 
or  cushions  are  spread,  with  pillows,  and  two 
persons,  if  necessary,  can  lie,  and  sleep  through 
the  night,  as  much  as  the  joltings  and  frequent 
changes  of  bullocks  will  allow.  Under  the  seats 
is  a  place  for  luggage. 

This  is  of  a  miscellaneous  character,  for  there 
are  no  hotels  on  the  ordinary  routes  of  travel; 
only  "Traveller's  Bungalows,"  or  rest-houses, 
unfurnished,  or  with  simply  beds,  chairs,  tables, 
and  crockery.  The  traveller  must  take  his  lunch 
box,  well  filled,  and  other  necessaries  along  with 
him,  and  usually  his  servant  to  cook  rice  and 
curry  for  him  at  the  bungalows,  and  attend  to  his 
wants  on  the  journey.  One  is  never  safe  start- 
ing on  a  long  journey  without  his  sun  umbrella, 
made  of  two  thicknesses,  white  without  and 
black  within,  and  his  pith  topi  or  sun  hat;  for 
he  may  break  down  at  midday,  and  have  to  walk 
miles  to  the  nearest  rest-house. 

The  clock  strikes  9  p.  m.  "Boy!  It  is  time 
we  were  off.  Put  in  the  Kiisa  (porous  goglet) 
of  cold  water,  and  light  the  coach  lamps,  or  is  it 
bright  enough  moonlight  to  do  without  ? "  "Yes 
sir,  done  got  Kusa  in.  White  moonlight.  Lamps 

148 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 


not  need.  All  ready,  sir."  "  Very  weli.  Jump 
on  behind."    And  off  we  go. 

There  is  a  seat  on  behind  for  a  servant,  with  a 
strap  for  him  to  strap  himself  in,  lest  he  fall  off 
in  his  sleep.  The  driver  sits  on  the  carriage  pole, 
for  the  double  purpose  of  putting  weight  on  the 
bullocks'  necks  to  hold  down  the  light  yoke, 
which  is  only  a  round  pole,  with  ropes  for  bows, 
and  also  that  he  may  be  in  a  position  to  twist  the 
bullocks'  tails  with  his  bare  toes  to  make  them 
quicken  their  gait!  This  he  does  frequently,  as 
easier  and  more  efficacious  than  whipping.  The 
bullocks  jog  along  at  about  four  miles  an  hour. 
This  driver  has  good  bullocks  (they  are  his  own) 
and  has  obtained  the  privilege  of  taking  me  two 
stages,  or  fifteen  miles,  so  as  to  earn  more  money. 
He  should  be  at  the  changing  place  at  half-past 
twelve. 

We  soon  pass  out  from  among  the  rice  fields, 

which  surround  the  town,  and  pass  the  few 

sugar-cane  fields,  and  the  more  numerous  millet 

fields,  now  all  bare  and  parched,  out  into  the 

open  stony  country,  and  on  into  the  ten  miles  of 

open  jungle  we  have  to  cross  to  come  to  the  next 

village.    Between  my  naps  I  am  sure  1  hear  the 

"boy"  snoring  on  the  seat  behind,  and  think  I 

detect,  every  now  and  then,  symptoms  of  the 
149 


The  Cobra's  Den 


driver  taking  short  naps,  wlien  suddenly  I  hear  a 
thud,  and  the  wheels  on  the  right  side  of  the  car- 
riage seem  to  go  over  a  big  stone,  or  rather  some 
large,  soft  obstacle.  I  spring  up  and  look  out 
under  the  partly  rolled  up  curtains  just  in  time  to 
see  the  brawny  driver  picking  himself  up  and 
shaking  off  the  dust.  The  driver's  seat  on  the 
pole  is  very  small.  He  had  got  to  sleep,  and 
was  nodding,  and  nodded  so  far  over  to  the 
right,  as  he  sat  sideways,  as  to  precipitate  him- 
self whack  onto  the  ground,  frightening  the 
bullocks  which  jumped  forward  and  both  wheels 
of  the  light  conveyance  passed  over  his  body. 

He  was  thoroughly  ashamed  that  he  had  got  to 
sleep  while  on  duty  and  tumbled  off,  and  was 
afraid  it  would  ruin  his  credit  as  a  driver  if  it 
were  known.  I  said  nothing  until  he  had  limp- 
ingly  caught  up,  and  jumped  on  to  his  seat  again 
without  the  bullocks  having  stopped,  and  then  1 
said,  "Well,  you  nodded  yourself  off,  didn't 
you?  I  hope  the  wheels  did  not  seriously  hurt 
you,"  "Oh,  no,"  said  he,  for  he  did  not  know 
that  I  had  seen  it  all,  "  1  have  not  been  asleep.  I 
didn't  tumble  off.  1  dropped  my  whip,  and  just 
jumped  off  and  ran  back  to  pick  it  up.  That 
was  all!"  When,  half  an  hour  later,  we  came 
to  the  relay  of  bullocks  and  he  wf  limping 

150 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 


around  unhitching  his,  he  explained  that  "driv- 
ing in  the  night  sometimes  gave  him  lumbago 
or  rheumatism,  and  made  him  stiff  and  lame!" 
And  this  story  he  will  doubtless  tell  his  people, 
v/hen  he  gets  home,  to  account  for  his  sudden 
lameness,  so  as  not  to  be  laughed  at  for  getting 
to  sleep  and  tumbling  off  his  seat.  Poor  fellow; 
he  was  sufficiently  punished,  and  1  shall  not  tell 
on  him.  I  paid  him  his  full  hire,  and  a  present 
besides,  to  procure  liniment  to  apply  to  his  lum- 
bago! 

In  the  next  nineteen  miles  I  had  three  changes 
of  bullocks  and  drivers.  One  of  the  other  drivers 
tumbled  off  when  it  was  not  his  own  fault.  We 
were  passing  through  another  somewhat  open 
jungle.  The  moon  was  just  setting,  and  was  ob- 
scured by  the  clouds  in  the  horizon,  casting  a 
faint,  lurid  light.  The  bullocks  were  going 
along  quietly.  The  carriage  made  scarcely  any 
noise  to  give  warning  of  our  approach.  All  at 
once  a  hyena,  which  had  been  crouching  behind 
a  bush,  startled  by  our  approach,  darted  out  and 
across  our  pathway  and  wheeled  and  ran  to  our 
rear.  The  bullocks,  terrified  by  the  sudden  ap- 
parition, dashed  off.  The  driver  lost  control  of 
them,  though  he  had  hold  of  the  rope  reins 
which  are  attached  to  a  ring  in  the  nose  of  each 

151 


The  Cobra's  Den 


bullock.  They  sprang  to  the  opposite  side  of 
the  road  from  which  the  hyena  had  gone.  One 
of  the  bullocks  fell  into  a  deep  gutter  that  he  was 
too  blinded  by  terror  to  notice,  and  the  other 
bullock  head  over  heels  on  top  of  him,  while  the 
driver  was  pitched  forward  and  fell  partly  be- 
tween the  prostrate  oxen.  No  great  harm  was 
done.  The  ropes,  which  attached  the  yoke  to  the 
pole  of  the  carriage,  were  soon  repaired.  The 
driver  was  unhurt,  but  this  time  it  was  the  bull- 
ock that  limped  through  the  rest  of  its  stage. 

By  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  we  had  come 
thirty-four  miles,  and  arrived  at  the  Bungalow 
where  I  spend  as  much  of  the  heat  of  the  day  as 
I  can  spare  from  my  journey.  My  servant  pre- 
pares a  hasty  "Chota  hazri,"  or  early  breakfast, 
and  I  put  my  carriage  mattress  on  a  cot,  and  get 
some  of  the  sleep  that  I  did  not  succeed  in  get- 
ting during  the  night.  With  the  aid  of  my  lunch 
box  a  good  dinner  is  made  ready  by  two  o'clock, 
for  I  must  be  off  soon  after  three,  to  catch  the 
train  that  passes  the  nearest  railway  station, 
twenty-six  miles  from  here,  at  lo  p.  m. 

Whew!  How  hot  it  is,  as  I  emerge  from  the 
shady  bungalow  compound  out  into  the  dusty 
street.  It  is  only  the  middle  of  April,  but  all 
vegetation  seems  killed,  except  the  leaves  of  the 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 


trees,  and  they  look  as  though  they  were  going 
into  a  decline!  Fields,  pastures,  meadows,— not 
a  particle  of  green  upon  one  of  them.  Grass 
roots  have  to  be  dug  for  the  horses  to  eat,  al- 
though they  live  chiefly  on  a  kind  of  grain  called 
gram,  a  small  bean.  The  unhappy  cows  and 
milch  buffaloes  wander  around  in  the  desperate 
attempt  to  find  some  bit  of  half  dried  up  grass 
they  can  pick,  and  looking  forward  longingly 
for  the  fodder  of  the  last  crop's  millet  straw, 
which  they  will  have  as  they  come  up  to  their 
master's  house  to  be  milked  at  night.  The  sheep 
are  partially  happy,  and  the  multitudinous  flocks 
of  goats  entirely  so  as  they  crop  the  leaves  of  the 
stunted  bushes  in  the  dried  up  jungles.  The 
hens  go  panting  around,  with  the  mouth  half 
open  to  breathe,  vainly  searching  for  the  grass- 
hoppers that  cannot  now  find  enough  to  support 
life,  and  waiting  for  the  sundown  to  bring  the 
ants  out  for  them  to  prey  upon.  April  and  May 
are,  indeed,  the  dreariest,  deadest  months  of  the 
whole  year.  There  is  the  dreariness  of  winter, 
with  the  heat  of  a  furnace.  There  is  not  a  cloud 
in  the  brazen  sky.  Not  a  breath  of  air  to  blow 
away  the  choking  dust  which  the  bullocks  kick 
up  as  they  go.  My  black  coat  is  fast  becoming 
white,  and  the  heat  in  the  carriage  seems  stifling. 

153 


The  Cobra's  Den 


Over  the  carriage  cover  and  sides  is  a  covering  of 
a  double  thickness  of  white  cloth  to  intercept  as 
much  as  possible  of  the  sun's  direct  rays,  but 
still  1  only  exist,  rather  than  live,  until  the  haze 
of  the  horizon  deadens  the  rays  of  the  setting 
sun. 

As  darkness  begins  to  come  on  I  am  in  a 
mountain  pass,  through  which  a  carriage  road 
bears  witness  to  much  engineering  skill.  For 
five  miles  there  is  not  the  sign  of  a  human  habi- 
tation, except  that  near  the  entrance  is  a  strongly 
built  police  station,  with  its  armed  squad  of  po- 
lice, placed  there  to  protect  travellers  from  the 
Dacoits,  or  robber  banditti,  proclaimed  outlaws, 
who,  every  now  and  then  traverse  this  region  on 
their  marauding  expeditions.  The  police  mildly 
suggest  to  me  that  it  would  be  safer  if  1  would 
stop  over  at  the  police  station  until  near  morn- 
ing, as  native  travellers  usually  do,  but  I  point  to 
my  well-loaded  revolver,  which  lies  on  my  mat- 
tress at  my  side,  and  tell  the  driver  to  go  on. 

These  Dacoits  are  unspeakably  cruel  in  torturing 

their  unarmed  victims  until  they  will  point  out 

their  valuables  secreted  in  their  baggage,  but 

when  it  comes  to  cold  lead  from  a  European 

revolver,   used  by  a  fearless  foreigner,  they 

are  great  cowards.    It  is  well  known  that  we 
154 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 


always  go  armed  through  such  places,  and 
the  knowledge  of  this  fact  mostly  prevents 
our  having  to  use  our  weapons,  for  it  prevents 
our  being  attacked.  I  have  taken  the  precau- 
tion, however,  to  engage  in  advance  a  Masalji- 
Wallah,  or  torch  bearer,  to  run  through  this 
dark  pass  with  his  flaming  torch  in  front  of  the 
bullocks.  The  Dacoits  like  to  approach  and  at- 
tack in  total  darkness,  and  besides,  where  torches 
are  borne  in  advance  of  a  conveyance,  it  is  prob- 
able that  there  are  armed  Europeans  in  the  con- 
veyance. I  pass  over  the  ground  unmolested, 
and  reach  the  railway  station  in  ample  time,  se- 
cure a  place  in  a  sleeping  compartment,  and 
start  on  at  a  pace  somewhat  more  rapid  than 
that  of  the  oxen. 

It  is  now  morning,  and  1  am  writing  in  the 
train.  I  have  had  a  very  funny  time  of  it  since 
three  o'clock,  but  of  that  and  of  the  further 
events  of  the  journey  1  must  write  after  I  have 
given  a  description  of  our  train  and  the  India 
railway  arrangements. 

What  a  sensation  this  train  that  I  am  travelling 
on  would  make  if  seen  running  from  New  York 
to  Philadelphia  and  Chicago,  especially  if  people 
along  the  line  were  told  that  it  was  not  an  emi- 
grant train,  but  the  great  express  and  mail  train ! 

156 


The  Cobra's  Den 


This  road,  "The  Madras  Railway,"  is  reckoned 
one  of  the  principal  roads  in  India.  It  has  nearly 
800  miles  of  line,  and  is  well  built,  with  good 
stations  all  along  the  line.  It  is  a  broad  guage 
railway,  and  is  subsidised  by  the  Anglo-Indian 
government  so  as  to  be  controlled  by  them  for 
military  purposes.  The  cars  are  built  more  the 
shape  of  American  freight  cars,  only  not  quite  so 
long.  They  have  no  platforms  at  the  ends,  but 
are  coupled  together  like  an  American  freight 
train.  Each  car  is  divided  into  compartments, 
entered  at  the  side  of  the  car,  and  reaching 
across.  The  seats  face  one  another,  and  each 
single  compartment  holds  twelve  persons  when 
crowded  full,  one  half  of  them  riding  backward. 

The  train  is  made  up  of  three  kinds  of  passen- 
ger carriages,  besides  freight  and  baggage  cars. 
The  first-class  passenger  carriages,  though  of  the 
shape  described  above,  and  with  doors  and  win- 
dows in  the  side  only,  are  better  built  than  the 
others,  and  are  all  arranged  so  as  to  turn  into 
sleeping  cars  at  night.  They  are  cushioned  with 
leather-covered  hair  cushions,  but  not  usually 
with  spring  seats.  The  second-class  carriages 
have  no  cushions,  simply  board  seats.  Shelves 
are  made  to  raise  up,  like  the  shelves  of  a  pantry, 
three  on  each  side,  one  above  another,  so  that 

156 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 


six  passengers  can  lie  down  comfortably,  if  they 
have  brought  along  their  own  mattresses  and 
pillows,  in  each  compartment.  If  there  are  more 
than  six  in  one  compartment  some  must  sit  up. 
The  third-class  carriages  are,  many  of  them, 
all  in  one  compartment,  with  fixed  wooden 
benches,  and  with  no  glass  windows  at  the 
sides,  simply  rough  Venetians  to  slide  up  and 
down;  nothing  to  keep  out  dust,  and  no  double 
roof.  The  first  and  second-class  carriages  have 
double  roofs  and  both  glass  and  Venetian  win- 
dows to  protect  passengers  from  sun-stroke  on 
the  journey. 

The  fares  are; — first-class  four  and  one-half 
cents,  second-class,  one  and  three-fourth  cents, 
third-class,  one-half  cent  per  mile.  This  last  is 
not  expensive  travelling.  It  would  be  equal  to 
going  through  from  New  York  to  Chicago  for 
$4.50,  but,  strange  to  say,  this  railway  makes 
nearly  all  its  profits,  so  far  as  passenger  traffic  is 
concerned,  from  its  third-class  passengers,  at  half 
a  cent  a  mile.  For  the  third-class  carriages  are  al- 
most always  full,  and  often  crowded,  while  as 
often  the  first  and  second-class  are  half  or  three- 
fourths  empty,  and  sometimes  a  first-class  car- 
riage will  go  through  a  hundred  miles  entirely 

empty,  or  with  but  one  passenger  in  it.  Many 
157 


The  Cobra's  Den 


trains  run  with  one  small  first-class  carriage,  one 
second,  and  from  eight  to  twelve  third.  The  old 
saying  on  the  continent  used  to  be  that  "only 
lords,  Americans,  and  fools  travel  first-class." 

Here  the  higher  English  officials  are  obliged  to 
travel  first-class  to  keep  up  their  dignity!  A  few 
wealthy  natives  nabobs  also  go  that  way  to  "  cut 
a  swell."  The  majority  of  foreigners,  however, 
and  Eurasians  (half-castes)  go  in  the  more  demo- 
cratic second-class,  and  also  a  fair  number  of 
well-to-do  natives,  but  they  usually  prefer  to  take 
a  separate  compartment  from  the  Europeans. 
The  multitude,  consisting  of  the  poorer  Eurasians, 
and  of  Brahmins,  Sudras  and  Pariahs,  priests  and 
people,  artisans,  traders,  farmers,  coolies,  crowd 
into  the  cheaper  and  more  popular  third-class 
carriages.  Being  thus  huddled  together  is  a  great 
leveller  of  old  caste  prejudices,  and  the  railway 
thus  becomes  something  of  an  educator  of  the 
people. 

There  is  no  means  of  communicating  with  the 
conductor,  or  "chief  guard  "  as  he  is  here  called, 
while  the  train  is  in  motion.  Every  fifty  miles 
the  train  stops  by  a  platform  long  enough  for  the 
"ticket  inspectors"  to  come  along  by  the  win- 
dows and  inspect  the  tickets  of  all  the  pas- 
sengers, to  see  that  none  are  travelling  without 

158 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 


tickets,  and  on  alighting  from  a  train  you  liave  to 
give  up  your  ticket  as  you  pass  out  of  the  gate. 
There  is,  however,  in  each  compartment,  placed 
conspicuously,  a  glass  dial  with  an  electric  bell- 
push  under  the  glass,  and  printed  instructions  at- 
tached to  tell  you  that  if  any  accident  occurs  to 
your  car  while  the  train  is  in  motion  you  must 
"break  the  glass  and  press  on  the  bell-push." 
This  communicates  with  an  electric  bell  on  the 
locomotive,  and  the  train  is  brought  to  a  stand- 
still, and  the  guard  rushes  along  outside  inquiring 
as  to  what  has  gone  wrong! 

At  ten  o'clock  last  evening  I  finished  my  sixty 
miles'  journey  with  bullocks  to  the  railway  sta- 
tion, and  awaited  the  incoming  of  this  train.  As 
it  slowed  up  the  chief  guard  sprang  upon  the 
station  platform  to  see  what  passengers  were  to 
be  accommodated.  Finding  me  with  a  second- 
class  ticket,  and  some  twenty  natives  with  third- 
class,  he  called  to  the  under  gaurd  to  crowd 
those  into  the  already  well-filled  third-class  car- 
riages, and  proceeded  to  unlock  the  door  of  a 
second-class  compartment  and  assigned  me  a 
place  on  the  upper  shelf,  the  other  "shelves "  be- 
ing already  occupied.  Spreading  my  small  travel- 
ling mattress  on  the  shelf,  and  placing  my  pillows 
and  shawl  thereon  and  my  other  small  luggage  at 

159 


The  Cobra's  Den 


my  feet,  I  climbed  up  and  lay  down.  The  guard 
shut  and  locked  the  door,  and  the  train  moved 
on. 

At  one  o'clock  we  came  to  the  junction  of  one 
of  the  chief  branches  of  this  road,  where  it  took 
twenty  minutes  to  make  the  necessary  change 
of  passengers  and  luggage,  amid  such  a  hubbub 
that  a  stranger  to  it  would  have  thought  that 
bedlam  had  broken  loose.  Hindus  cannot  ac- 
complish much  without  double  the  noise  of  even 
Frenchmen.  All  of  my  fellow-passengers  in  this 
compartment  left,  and  the  train  moved  on  with 
me  as  its  sole  occupant  until  about  three  o'clock, 
when  we  come  to  a  large  town  where  probably 
IOC  passengers  leave,  and  as  many  more  get  on. 

The  train  stops  here  twenty  minutes.  Soon  the 
door  of  my  compartment  is  unlocked  and  opened 
by  the  under  guard,  and  1  hear  a  burly  European 
voice  arguing  with  him.  I  hear  the  guard,  a  na- 
tive, saying  to  him  in  English,  "  No,  1  can't.  See, 
there  is  a  gentleman  asleep  in  the  upper  berth." 
"Well,  then,  go  and  call  the  chief  guard,"  is  the 
response.  1  appear  to  be  sound  asleep  and  do 
not  move.  The  chief  guard,  a  native  also, 
comes,  peers  in,  and  says,  "No,  1  can't  doit." 
"Well,  then,  I'll  see  the  station  master,"  is  the 
reply.    The  station  master,  a  portly  native  offi- 

160 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 


cial,  comes  and  looks  in,  (I  am  still  apparently 
asleep)  and  says,  "No,  I  can't  disturb  that  gentle- 
man after  he  has  paid  his  fare  and  been  assigned 
to  his  berth.  It  is  contrary  to  our  rules.  You 
will  have  to  put  your  wife  and  children  in  the 
ladies'  compartment,  right  here  in  this  same  car- 
riage, and  yourself  take  a  berth  in  here."  After 
ten  minutes  more  wrangling,  to  which  I  pay  no 
attention,  a  rug  is  put  in  on  the  opposite  lower 
seat,  a  portly  form  seems  to  lie  down  on  it,  and 
we  move  off.  Every  time  we  stop  there  are  mut- 
terings  and  imprecations  on  the  guards,  the  sta- 
tion master,  and  the  railway,  but  I  appear  to 
sleep  on. 

A  little  before  sunrise,  at  a  quarter  to  six  here 
at  this  season,  I  appear  to  wake  up,  climb  down 
from  my  exalted  position,  spread  my  mattress 
cushion  on  the  lower  seat,  let  down  the  upper 
shelves,  take  out  my  writing,  and  begin  to  pen 
further  notes  on  my  journey.  But  it  is  no  use. 
My  burly  companion  has  been  bottled  up  too 
long.  He  must  talk  or  burst.  1  lay  down  my 
writing  pad  and  pencil  a  moment  to  look  in  the 
railway  guide,  and  out  it  comes;  "Going  far.^ 
if  I  may  ask  the  question."  "Only  to  the  next 
junction  on  this  train,"  is  my  reply.  That  is  fif- 
teen miles  ahead.  This  express  mail  train  runs 
161 


The  Cobra's  Den 


just  twenty  miles  an  hour!  So  it  will  take  us 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  to  get  there. 

"Then  do  you  take  the  other  railway  from 
there?"  "I  intend  doing  so."  "As  far  as?" 
I  smile  and  name  the  next  junction,  where  I  will 
have  to  change  cars  the  second  time.  "Yes,  glad 
to  hear  it.  What  do  you  suppose  that  humorous 
American,  Artemus  Ward,  would  have  said  to 
such  a  railway  as  this,  and  to  these  miserable 
carriages  ?  Do  you  really  suppose  they  are  as 
good  as  those  he  characterised  as  '  second-hand 
coffins '  ?  You  have  heard  of  Artemus  Ward  I 
presume?" 

I  admitted  having  heard  of  such  a  person. 
"Well,"  he  says — and  here  he  proceeded  to 
quote  that  celebrated  author's  opinions  on  vari- 
ous questions  connected  with  railway  travel- 
ling; and  suddenly  brought  up  with  "Your 
name,  please?"  1  meekly  give  it.  I  have  heard 
much  of  the  world  famed  inquisitiveness  of  the 
Yankee  traveller.  I  see  at  a  glance  that  my  com- 
panion is  an  Englishman,  as  proves  to  be  the 
case,  and  I  determine  to  humour  him,  and  see 
how  far  he  will  go. 

"My  name  is  Jackson,"  he  proceeds,  "  William 

Jackson,  at  your  service.    I  hold  such  and  such 

an  office  in  the  town  this  train  slopped  at,  about 
162 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 


three  o'clock  this  morning.  I've  got  a  wife  iind 
five  children  with  me  on  the  train."  I  bowed  my 
acknowledgments  for  this  interesting  piece  of 
information,  and  my  loquacious  friend  proceeded: 
"This  railway  is  a  wretched  concern,  terribly 
mismanaged,  with  a  fearfully  inefficient  staff  of 
officials  and  employees.  They  demand  high 
fares  from  their  passengers,  (he  was  paying  one 
and  three-fourth  cents  a  mile)  and  yet  they  won't 
accommodate  you  a  bit.  Now  I  tried  my  best  to 
get  the  station  master  and  the  guards  to  vacate  this 
compartment  when  1  got  on  the  train,  and  let 
my  wife  and  children  and  self  have  it  to  our- 
selves, but,  bless  you,  they  wouldn't  do  it.  I 
kept  at  the  station  master  the  whole  ten  minutes 
the  train  was  waiting,  trying  to  make  him  clear 
it  out  and  give  it  to  us.  (This  meant,  of  course, 
turning  me  out  bag,  baggage,  and  bedding  at 
three  a.  m.)  but  he  was  not  accommodating  a 

bit.    Now  on  the           Railway  you  can  make 

the  station  master  do  anything  you  wish,  but  this, 
fellow  would  not  oblige  us,  but  made  my  wife 
and  children  go  into  the  ladies'  compartment  next 
(divided  from  this  by  a  thin  board  partition)  and 
put  me  in  here  alone,  when  I  might  have  had  my 
family  with  me  all  this  time.  It's  too  bad!"  I 
assented  that  it  was  rather  hard  lines. 

163 


The  Cobra's  Den 


"  Do  you  know  Mr.  So  and  So  ?  "  he  resumed. 

I  admit  that  I  know  them.  "  They  are  somewhat 
old  friends  of  mine.  You  come  from  where  ?" 
With  a  scarcely  suppressed  grin  I  let  him  start 
on  the  catechism  again,  curious  to  see  where  he 
would  run.  His  questions  took  a  wide  range 
and  he  pushed  them  with  vigour.  I  found  myself 
trying  to  recall  my  wife's  maternal  grandmother's 
maiden  name,  to  be  ready  when  that  question 
should  come,  when  a  shriek  from  the  locomotive 
announces  our  near  approach  to  the  junction,  and 
gives  me  a  great  relief.  Talk  to  me  about  in- 
quisitive loquacious  Yankee  travellers  after  this! 
I  never  saw  one  that  would  come  within  shoot- 
ing distance  of  this  Englishman,  though  I  confess 
such  specimens  are  rare.  So  I  suspect  the  "typ- 
ical Yankee  "  specimens  are. 

Now  the  subject  changes.  He  is  also  going  to 
take  the  other  railway  here;  but  our  train  is 
twenty-five  minutes  behind  time,  and  he  is  "  per- 
fectly sure  we  will  miss  our  connection,  you 
know,  for  the  two  companies  are  at  loggerheads, 
and  won't  wait  for  one  another  at  all;  and  what 
makes  the  matter  worse  is  that  to-day  he  is  going 
on  unusually  important  business," — and  he  pauses 
for  me  to  ask  what  that  very  important  business 
is,  but  I  do  not  take  the  hint.    1  have  something 

164 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 

more  important  to  do.  Through  the  open  win- 
dow I  see  that  the  train  of  the  other  road  is  wait- 
ing at  its  station,  not  ten  rods  from  the  one  we 
are  to  stop  at. 

I  get  all  my  things  ready,  strap  up  my  mat- 
tress, pillows  and  shawls,  and  the  moment  the 
train  slows  up,  I  motion  with  a  coin  in  my  hand 
to  three  cooly  porters,  toss  out  my  luggage  to 
them,  which  they  seize,  and  follow  me  up 
over  the  bridge  that  goes  over  our  train,  and 
over  the  multitudinous  tracks,  and  so  on  to  the 
ticket  office  of  the  other  road.  I  secure  my  ticket 
and  get  to  the  place  for  weighing  luggage  before 
any  of  our  other  passengers  appear.  On  to  the 
scales  are  piled  my  valise,  bag,  lunch  box,  mat- 
tress, umbrella,  boots  and  pith  hat!  for  every- 
thing must  be  weighed  and  extra  paid  for  every 
pound  in  excess  of  sixty  pounds,  the  limit  of 
baggage  allowed  free  to  second-class  passengers. 
I  secure  my  receipt  for  that  and  the  coolies  bring 
my  "belongings"  on  with  me  to  the  farthest 
forward  second-class  compartment,  put  the  valise 
and  bag  and  lunch  box  under  the  seat,  receive 
their  promised  present,  make  their  profound 
salaams,  and  run  off  to  seek  another  job.  1  select 
the  front  compartment,  for,  if  my  catechetical 
friend  should  succeed  in  making  the  transfer  with 


The  Cobra's  Den 


his  family,  I  do  not  particularly  desire  that  he 
should  find  me,  and  resume  the  domestic  cate- 
chism, or  talk  me  into  a  premature  grave.  1  mop 
off  the  perspiration  from  my  face,  for  the  ther- 
mometer stands  already  between  90°  and  100°  in 
the  shade  at  6:30  a.  m.,  and  settle  down  for 
a  thoroughly  uncomfortable  day,  for  I  have  to 
travel  all  day  over  some  of  the  hottest  plains  of 
South  India. 

We  are  now  on  the  narrow  guage  or  metre 
guage  line  known  as  the  "  South  India  railway." 
The  cars,  or  carriages,  are  much  smaller;  the  lo- 
comotive much  lighter  and  less  powerful;  the 
track  not  nearly  so  heavy,  and  the  bridges  of 
much  cheaper  construction,  and  as  a  consequence 
the  speed  at  which  trains  are  allowed  to  run  is 
less,  and  the  fare  is  less.  An  effort  is  being  made 
to  open  out  larger  stretches  of  country  with  the 
same  capital  and  the  results  are  proving  the  wis- 
dom of  the  experiment,  but  the  traveller  must  be 
more  patient,  for  it  takes  longer  to  run  a  hundred 
miles,  and  the  comfort  is  less,  for  the  train  shakes 
and  vibrates  more. 

About  eleven  o'clock  we  run  into  the  Trichinop- 
oly  Junction,  and  here  a  half  hour  is  given  us  for 
breakfast,  for  up  to  this  time  we  have  not  had  a 
chance  to  get  anything  to  eat.    We  find  a  fairly 

166 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 


good  breakfast  on  the  table,  for  the  "guard"  had 
telegraphed  ahead  the  number  of  those  who 
wished  breakfast,  hi  half  an  hour  we  are  off  on 
the  other  train  which  runs  to  Tuticorin,  and  this 
is  perhaps  the  most  arid,  certainly  the  hottest  part 
of  our  journey.  In  spite  of  the  double  roof  of 
the  cars,  in  spite  of  the  double  windows,  to  keep 
out  the  heat,  the  thermometer  soon  passes  the 
hundred  mark;  at  one  p.  m.,  it  has  passed  103° 
and  goes  on  feeling  its  way  toward  110°.  No 
crops  are  on  the  parched  fields  except  where  irri- 
gation allows  rice  to  be  grown,  and  that  is  very 
rarely  on  this  arid  stretch. 

The  native  villages  we  pass  by,  with  their 
streets  of  mud  wall,  thatch  roof  houses,  look  hot 
enough  to  burst  out  blazing  from  the  sun's  heat 
alone.  When  one  house  does  take  fire  from  any 
cause  the  whole  village  will  be  consumed  in  an 
hour.  Many  of  the  trees  stand  entirely  without 
leaves,  for  the  deciduous  trees  cast  their  leaves  in 
the  hot  dry  season  instead  of  in  winter,  as  in  a 
cold  climate. 

By  four  p.  m.,  we  have  reached  the  end  of  our 
railway  journey  at  a  station  with  a  name  as  long 
as  a  whiplash,  viz,  AmmayanSyakanur!  Thirty 
rods  from  the  station  is  a  "  Travellers'  Bungalow  " 
which  is  so  much  patronised  that  a  butler  is  kept 

167 


The  Cobra's  Den 


there,  who  supplies  meals  to  travellers  who 
telegraph  him  in  advance,  as  I  did.  Thither 
I  go  with  my  belongings,  and  have  time  to 
wash  up  and  rest  a  little  before  taking  dinner 
at  five  p.  M.,  for  I  do  not  wish  to  start  on  my 
"bullock  transit"  journey  until  the  sun  nears  the 
horizon. 

It  is  thirty-two  miles  hence  to  the  foot  of  the 
ghat,  or  steep  pathway  up  the  mountain.  A 
good  road  has  been  constructed  by  the  govern- 
ment, and  rival  native  companies  have  organised 
lines  of  transits,  to  take  passengers  through. 

A  bullock  transit  here  consists  of  a  two- 
wheeled  cart  with  heavy  wheels,  with  a  box 
seven  feet  long  and  nearly  a  yard  wide,  over 
which  is  a  woven  bamboo  cover.  The  body  of 
the  cart  rests  on  stiff,  unyielding  springs  attached 
to  the  axle,  and  in  it  is  usually  placed  a  bundle  of 
fresh  rice  straw  for  the  passenger,  or  passengers 
to  lie  on,  and  which  the  bullocks  will  eat  at  the 
end  of  the  journey.  The  passenger  puts  his 
"resai,"  or  light  travelling  mattress,  or  a  rug 
over  the  loose  straw,  and  getting  in  himself  and 
lying  down,  with  his  luggage  at  his  feet  and 
side,  he  gives  the  word  to  be  off.  The  driver 
springs  onto  his  seat  in  front,  with  his  bare  feet 
hanging  down  so  that  he  can  with  his  toes  grasp 

168 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 

the  tails  of  the  bullocks  and  twist  them  to  make 
them  go,  and  off  we  start. 

Being  weary  I  was  just  falling  into  a  doze 
when  a  rattling,  whirring,  metallic  sound  makes 
me  spring  up  and  look  out;  there  in  the  dim 
light  I  see  the  tire  of  one  of  the  wheels  running 
off  and  tipping  over  into  the  ditch  at  the  side  of 
the  road.  A  shout  brings  the  driver  to  a  halt, 
and  in  dismay  he  sees  the  mishap.  An  empty 
transit  soon  comes  up,  to  my  delight  at  first,  but 
it  proves  to  belong  to  the  rival  line,  and  with 
jeers  and  chuckles  he  drives  on.  The  oxen  are 
unhitched,  and  the  cart  left  to  stand  until  the 
driver  goes  to  the  town  we  had  just  passed,  and, 
after  a  long  time,  appears  with  another  transit,  a 
very  poor  one,  but  in  I  get  with  my  luggage  and 
we  are  on  our  way  again.  Every  six  miles  the 
bullocks  are  changed,  and  I  strike  a  match,  look 
at  my  watch,  and,  if  the  driver  has  made  good 
time,  give  him  a  present,  and  tell  the  coming 
driver  that  he  will  have  one  if  he  drives  well, 
and  not  without.  Cat-naps  are  secured  between, 
if  the  jolting  is  not  too  great,  and  at  last  the 
transit  journey  is  ended. 

At  two  A.  M.  we  arrive  at  the  tope,  or  grove  at 
the  foot  of  the  ascent,  and  there,  sleeping  on  the 
bare  ground  under  the  trees,  in  the  moonlight, 

169 


The  Cobra's  Den 


are  the  twelve  coolies  I  had  previously  arranged 
for,  for  the  ascent.  Four  of  them  are  to  take  my 
luggage,  and  eight  are  to  carry  me  up  the  twelve 
miles,  climbing  nearly  7,000  feet.  One  can  ride 
up  on  a  scraggy  country  pony,  if  he  can  endure 
it,  or  go  up  sitting  upright  in  a  chair,  borne  with 
poles,  on  the  shoulders  of  six  men,  four  at  a 
time,  and  the  other  two  changing  with  them. 
But  as  I  am  too  ill  and  weak  to  sit  up  for  so  long, 
1  have  ordered  a  dooly,  which  is  something  like  a 
short  hammock  hung  to  a  long  bamboo,  and 
borne  by  two  men  in  front,  and  two  behind,  the 
others  coming  along  and  changing  every  mile  or 
half  mile  where  very  steep.  If  it  is  dark,  a  torch 
bearer  goes  in  front,  but  there  is  a  bright  moon 
to-night. 

The  first  five  miles  is  up  a  valley  by  the  side  of 
a  winding  brook,  and  the  ascent  is  very  gentle, 
and  good  time  is  made.  Then  comes  a  mile  of 
stiff  climbing  and  the  bearers  put  one  down  on 
the  ground  by  a  spring,  announcing  that  they  are 
going  to  have  some  breakfast.  Often  too  they 
will  slip  away  out  of  call  and  lie  down  and  take 
a  nap,  leaving  you  with  your  hammock  lying  on 
the  ground.  But  at  last  they  return,  and  take 
you  up,  and  after  another  half  hour  you  come  to 
the  beginning  of  the  famous  zigzags  up  the  face 

170 


Oddities  of  Travel  in  India 

of  the  rocky  mountain,  which  have  been  made  at 
no  small  cost. 

There  are  sixty-seven  zigs,  and  sixty-seven 
zags,  in  this  one  place,  and  as  the  sun  has 
now  risen  and  is  shining  hot  upon  you  the  as- 
cent is  very  wearisome.  At  their  top  another 
spring  is  reached,  and  another  halt  is  made,  and 
then,  in  four  miles  more  of  less  steep  climb- 
ing, with  the  sun  pouring  so  hot  upon  one  that 
he  hardly  realises  that  he  has  reached  the  cooler 
climate,  you  at  last  ascend  the  last  zigzag  to  the 
eastern  crest  of  the  summit,  and,  passing  under 
the  shade  of  the  trees,  you  are  glad  to  put  your 
overcoat  on,  as  you  dismount  and  look  down 
upon  the  beautiful  lake  lying  at  7,000  feet  above 
the  sea,  and  realise  that  you  are  in  the  climate  of 
southern  France  in  early  summer,  for  the  ther- 
mometer stands  in  the  shade  at  60°  which  is 
lower  than  you  have  seen  it  on  the  plains  even  in 
the  coolest  months,  and  you  admit  that  a  deli- 
cious climate  and  beautiful  scenery  and  a  grateful 
breeze  reward  you  for  your  long,  hot,  wearisome 
sixty  hours'  journey. 


171 


XVII 


A  MISSIONARY  SANITARIUM  IN  INDIA 

KoDAiKANAL  is,  perhaps,  of  all  the  sanitaria  of 
India,  the  one  most  advantageous  for,  and  the 
one  most  patronised  by  missionaries.  It  is  about 
7,200  feet  above  the  sea,  on  the  summit  of  the 
Palani,  or  Pulney  Mountains,  which  separate  the 
fertile  Madura  district  of  the  Madras  presidency 
from  the  native  kingdom  of  Travancore.  "The 
Pulneys,"  as  they  are  called,  are  some  forty  miles 
long  by  twenty  broad,  and  are  a  part  of  the 
mountain  range,  reaching  from  near  Cape 
Comorin  up  to  the  north  of  Bombay,  parallel 
with  the  sea  of  Arabia,  and  from  twenty  to  sixty 
miles  from  its  shore,  and  known  in  geographies 
as  "  The  Western  Ghats."  The  Nilgiris  and  Mah- 
ableshwar  are  the  more  northern  elevations  of 
the  same  mountain  range. 

Half  a  century  ago  two  of  the  missionaries  of 
the  Madura  mission  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  whose 
stations  were  near  the  base  of  these  almost  pre- 
cipitous mountains,  determined  to  accomplish 
their  difficult  ascent,  to  visit  and  preach  to  the 

172 


A  Missionary  Sanitarium 

few  mountaineers,  and  see  what  the  climate 
might  be,  and  whether  it  were  not  possible  to 
have  a  sanitarium  thus  near  them,  in  which  to 
take  refuge  sometimes  in  the  burning  heat,  or 
when  ill,  and  thus  avoid,  perhaps,  an  absolute 
breakdown  and  an  expensive  journey  to  the 
home  land  for  restoration. 

Finding  some  of  the  hill  people  who  had 
brought  their  wares  to  the  periodical  market  at 
the  mission  station  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
they  induced  them  to  pilot  them,  and  carry  for 
them  a  small  amount  of  necessities  up  the  diffi- 
cult footpath  utilised  by  the  mountaineers.  On 
reaching  the  summit  they  found  a  natural  basin, 
whose  bottom  was  about  6,900  feet  above  sea- 
level,  with  numerous  springs  of  water  bursting 
out  of  the  sides  of  the  hills  that  surrounded  the 
basin,  whose  round  and  grassy  summits  were 
7,300  to  7,700  feet  above  sea-level,  and  on  whose 
sides  were  groves  of  forest  trees. 

Choosing  a  site  in  a  grove  100  feet  above  the 
little  brook,  fed  by  all  these  pellucid  springs,  they 
erected  a  simple  hut,  with  thatched  roof  and 
"wattle  and  daub"  sides,  and  spent  some  days 
in  it,  testing  the  climate,  exploring  the  hills,  and 
preaching  to  the  people  they  found  in  the  few 
mountain  hamlets.    It  were  interesting  to  trace 

173 


The  Cobra's  Den 


the  experiences  they  had  and  their  efforts  to  find 
a  feasible  cooUe-path  or  bridle-road,  up  which 
coolies  with  loads,  and  ponies  with  riders,  and 
donkeys  with  packs  could  come  ;  suffice  it  to  say 
that  ere  many  years  had  elapsed,  by  the  aid  of  the 
district  government  officials,  a  passable  coolie- 
ghat,  and  bridle-path,  zigzagging  up  twelve  miles 
from  the  foot,  had  been  constructed,  and  a  dam 
built,  at  small  cost,  across  a  narrow  spot,  turn- 
ing the  little  brook  into  a  beautiful  lake,  three 
miles  around  at  the  water's  edge,  into  which  fish 
were  speedily  introduced,  and  a  few  inexpensive 
houses  had  been  erected  by  the  Madras  mission- 
aries and  the  government  officials  of  the  district, 
who  appreciated  for  themselves,  and  especially 
for  their  wives  and  children,  the  boon  of  having 
within  a  night's  journey  a  change  of  temperature 
from  100°  in  the  shade  on  the  plain,  to  60°  or  66° 
by  the  little  lake  on  the  mountain. 

This  was  the  origin  of  the  now  well-known 
sanitarium  of  Kodaikanal.  For  many  years  its 
inaccessibility  to  all  but  those  in  the  adjacent  dis- 
tricts militated  against  its  growth,  for  a  journey 
of  350  miles  by  bullock  bandy  from  Madras  across 
the  scorching  plains  to  the  foot  of  the  mountains 
would  prove  too  much  for  many  an  invalid,  who 
might  otherwise  be  saved  and  restored  by  its  in- 

174 


A  Missionary  Sanitarium 

vigourating  climate;  and  other  sanitaria  more 
readily  accessible  were  patronised  far  more. 
Now,  however,  there  is  a  railway  from  Madras 
to  Tuticorin,  near  Cape  Comorin,  passing  within 
thirty-two  miies  of  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
from  which  bandies  (covered  carts),  drawn  by 
relays  of  trotting  bullocks,  bring  one  by  night,  in 
from  six  to  eight  hours,  to  a  little  traveller's  bun- 
galow at  the  beginning  of  the  ascent,  whence 
starting  before  daylight  one  can  come  up  in  a 
chair  or  dooly  borne  by  eight  coolies,  or  can  ride 
up  on  a  scrubby  country  pony,  making  the 
twelve  miles'  climb,  including  the  loo  zigzags,  in 
five  or  six  hours. 

Houses,  built  of  stone  found  in  abundance  on 
the  spot  in  broken  masses,  as  though  already 
quarried,  with  red  clay  as  mortar,  have  been 
erected  among  the  trees  on  all  the  hillsides  around 
the  lake,  and  have  been  steadily  creeping  up  from 
near  the  lake  level  until  now  the  tops  of  the  hills, 
7,300  and  7,500  feet  high,  are  utilised  as  building 
sites.  The  government  astronomer  kindly  in- 
forms me  that  the  government  reckoning  of  the 
height  of  Kodaikanal  is  7,209  feet  above  the  sea- 
level,  which  I  take  to  be  the  mean  height  of  the 
residential  portion  of  this  mountain  resort.  The 

great  Government  Observatory  for  India  now 
175 


The  Cobra's  Den 


erecting  is  on  a  hill  7,700  feet  high,  overlooking 
the  lake  from  the  west. 

It  is  singular  that  nearly  all  the  great  sanitaria 
of  India,  North  and  South,  are  at  practically  the 
same  elevation  above  the  sea :  Simla  being 
7,116,  Darjeeling  7, 168,  Ootacamund  7,271,  Ko- 
daikanal  7,209;  while  Mussurie,  Nynee  Tal, 
Mahableshwar,  Coonoor,  and  the  Shevaroys  are 
a  few  hundred  feet  lower. 

Kodaikanal  has  less  non-missionary  visitors 
than  the  other  great  sanitaria.  Simla  is  the  sum- 
mer capital  of  the  Viceroy,  Darjeeling  of  Bengal, 
Nynee  Tal  of  the  Northwest  Provinces,  Mah- 
ableshwar of  Bombay,  and  Ootacamund  of  Ma- 
dras, and  hosts  of  government  officials  with 
their  families  accompany  the  governors  there, 
and  other  Europeans  swarm  those  places.  In 
them  all,  and  in  others  also,  large  and  increasing 
numbers  of  missionaries  too  are  found  each 
season,  obtaining  a  new  lease  of  life  for  more 
_  vigorous  work  on  the  plains. 

Kodaikanal,  however,  is  a  smaller  and  more 
quiet  place.  There  is  less  of  fashion;  it  is  less 
expensive;  it  is  more  restful.  Its  climate  is  less 
damp  than  many  of  the  hill  stations.  Being 
nearer  the  equator,  in  latitude  10°  15'  north,  its 
climate  varies  but  little  in  different  seasons  of  the 

176 


A  Missionary  Sanitarium 

year.  The  thermometer  lOO  feet  above  the  lake 
never  goes  below  40°  in  the  cold  months;  it 
never  rises  above  76°  in  the  hot  months.  In 
January  and  February  frost  is  seen  on  the  shores 
of  the  lake,  but  never  100  feet  above.  In  April 
and  May,  the  hottest  months  here,  I  have  not 
seen  the  mercury  above  75°  nor  below  60°,  vary- 
ing thus  less  than  fifteen  degrees  night  and  day, 
week  in  and  week  out.  Essentially  the  same  as 
to  the  temperature  during  the  hot  months  of  the 
year,  might  be  said  of  nearly  all  the  great  sani- 
taria of  India.  There  is  not  the  real  tonic  effect 
of  frost  upon  the  system.  It  does  not  build  one 
up  who  is  much  run  down,  as  a  winter  in  the 
temperate  zone  does;  but  an  occasional  change 
to  one  of  these  sanitaria  is  exceedingly  helpful  in 
preventing  the  utter  breakdown  that  has 
wrecked  many  a  promising  missionary  career 
too  near  its  beginning. 

Missionary  societies  have  come  to  appreciate 
the  economy,  both  in  health  to  the  missionary 
and  in  money  to  their  supporters,  in  having  a 
sanitarium  where  their  missionaries,  jaded  by 
months  of  incessant  work  in  touring,  preaching, 
school  work,  looking  after  the  sick,  working  up 
more  and  more  in  the  languages  of  the  people, 
and,  what  so  burdened  the  Apostle  Paul,  "the 

177 


The  Cobra's  Den 


care  of  all  the  churches,"  could  come  for  six  or 
eight  weeks  of  respite  both  from  heat  and  from 
wearing  work,  and  recuperate  the  worn  physical 
and  mental  powers.  It  prolongs  the  years  of 
service;  it  saves  the  lives  of  experienced  mission- 
aries, and  prevents  the  necessity  of  so  rapidly 
replacing  them  by  novices.  It  forestalls  the  cost 
of  many  a  long  sea  journey  to  the  native  land  to 
save  a  life  that  would  otherwise  be  sacriffced. 

The  "  American  Board,"  the  leader  in  this  wise 
movement,  has  been  so  convinced  of  this,  that 
for  more  than  thirty  years  it  has  provided  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  houses,  inexpensive  but  com- 
fortable, so  that  every  member  of  their  large 
Madura  mission  can  find  room  here  through 
April  and  May,  the  two  most  trying  of  the  eight 
hot  months  of  the  year.  These  houses  are  then 
rented,  as  far  as  possible,  during  the  remaining 
hot  months,  to  others,  usually  the  families  of 
government  and  railway  officials  and  European 
business  men,  and  thus  the  expense  of  keeping 
up  the  houses  is  mostly  met,  and  there  is  no 
drain  on  the  contributions  of  the  home  churches 
for  missionary  purposes.  Other  missionary 
boards  and  societies  are  fast  falling  into  line  in 
affording  these  facilities,  considering  it  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  truest  economy  so  to  do. 

178 


A  Missionary  Sanitarium 

A  missionary  census  of  Kodaikanal,  completed 
to-day,  shows  that  there  have  come  up  so  far, 
and  are  now  in  Kodaikanal,  170  missionaries, 
with  sixty-two  children,  or  232  in  all,  of  mission- 
ary families,  representing  fourteen  different  mis- 
sionary societies,  American,  British,  and  German; 
in  numbers  the  English  being  first  and  the  Ameri- 
cans a  close  second;  the  Germans,  Swedes, 
Australians,  and  Canadians  being  fewer. 

It  is  not  for  a  simple  "play  spell"  that  all 
these  missionaries  come  up.  Some  indeed  come 
so  run  down  and  ill  that  they  must  have  abso- 
lute rest.  Others  come  for  change  and  recuper- 
ation with  work,  which  they  are  able  to  bring  up 
with  them.  The  going  over  and  valuing  of  hun- 
dreds of  examination  papers  of  the  missionary 
colleges  and  schools  whose  spring  term  closes  as 
their  principals  and  teachers  come  up  for  the  va- 
cation, or  the  yearly  examination  papers  of  our 
native  assistants  who,  each  in  his  own  village, 
carry  on  Biblical  and  theological  studies  through 
the  year;  the  bringing  up  of  arrears  of  corre- 
spondence and  accounts;  the  preparation  or  re- 
vision of  vernacular  tracts  and  books;  with 
young  missionaries,  the  more  vigorous  study  of 
the  language;  important  committee  work,  that 
can  be  done  better  here  than  in  the  whirl  of  work 

179 


The  Cobra's  Den 


below;  these  and  other  matters  demand  a  good 
portion  of  the  time  of  all  who  are  able  to  work. 

There  is  another  most  important  advantage 
here  to  the  isolated  missionaries  coming  from 
scattered  stations,  who  h^ve  little  means  of 
spiritual  uplift  through  the  year,  except  in  private 
study  and  in  the  closet. 

Every  year  there  is  held  here,  in  May,  a  four 
days'  convention  for  the  deepening  of  spiritual 
life,  to  which  we  look  forward  with  joy  as  one 
of  the  chief  blessings  of  our  sojourn.  This  year 
it  was  held  May  7th  to  loth  inclusive,  and  was 
under  the  stimulating  leadership  of  Dr.  W.  W. 
White,  of  Mr.  Moody's  Biblical  Institute,  Chi- 
cago, who  has  been  giving  two  years  of  excep- 
tional service  to  the  young  men  of  India.  At 
each  of  our  two  daily  sessions  it  was  grand  to 
see  the  earnest,  joyous  countenances  of  the  mis- 
sionaries that  filled  the  American  mission  church, 
while  we  together  considered  the  themes  Christ, 
the  Bible,  the  Holy  Spirit,  Prayer,  and  seemed  to 
participate  in  the  promised  "  fullness." 

This  week  the  annual  Kodaikanal  missionary 

conference  meets  for  three  days,  for  discussing 

important  missionary  problems,  preparation  for 

which  has  been  made  throughout  the  year.  The 

sessions  close  with  a  united  missionary  breakfast 
180 


A  Missionary  Sanitarium 


in  a  grove,  at  which  above  150  missionaries  will 
be  present  and  partake  of  food  physical,  and  in- 
tellectual as  well,  in  the  after-breakfast  speeches, 
and  draw  closer  the  bonds  of  missionary  comity 
and  loving  friendship  ere,  next  week,  most  of  us 
go  back  to  our  more  or  less  solitary  stations,  with 
new  vows  of  consecration  to  Him  who  has  given 
us  so  much  of  joy  and  uplift  on  these.  His  de- 
lectable mountains,  for  His  glorious  service. 


181 


XVIII 


HOW  THE  "cut"  cuts 

Yes.  I  think  I  can  answer  the  question  asked 
me  as  to  "What  Retrenchment  Means  in  India," 
for  I  have  recently  met,  in  conference,  mission- 
aries of  fourteen  different  societies  and  we  have 
compared  notes.  We  have  told  one  another  of 
our  joys,  yes,  and  of  our  sorrows  and  disappoint- 
ments too,  for  on  many  of  those  missions  the 
axe  of  retrenchment  has  fallen,  fallen  heavily, 
since  from  ten  to  thirty-three  per  cent,  of  the 
annual  expenditure  for  work  on  the  field  has,  in 
several  instances,  been  cut  off  by  the  cut  of  re- 
trenchment, and  from  the  fullness  of  their  hearts 
and  mine  I  speak. 

"Self-support  among  the  mission  churches" 
is,  it  is  true,  the  apostolic  plan,  and  none  are 
working  harder  toward  that  end  than  the  mis- 
sionaries who  are  pushing  the  founding  of  native 
churches  in  India.  To  our  joy  steady  progress 
is  being  made.  In  church  after  church  in  India  a 
majority  of  the  members  give  one-tenth  of  their 
income  for  church  support  and  evangelistic  effort. 

182 


How  the  "Cut"  Cuts 


Is  that  exceeded  in  happy,  Christian  America  ? 
But  even  that  tenth  makes  but  a  small  aggregate 
here,  for  the  average  income  is  so  scant.  "To 
the  poor  is  the  gospel  preached,"  has  always 
been  the  glory  of  Christianity.  Even  under  the 
preaching  of  the  apostles,  "not  many  mighty, 
not  many  noble"  were  called.  In  India,  too,  God 
hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to 
confound  the  mighty.  But  the  mighty  are  not 
yet  confounded.  It  is  still  the  weak.  As  yet 
those  of  our  converts  who  have  any  property  are, 
usually,  in  some  way,  stripped  of  it  all,  on  em- 
bracing Jesus  Christ  as  their  Saviour.  In  few  of 
our  up-country  congregations  is  the  average  total 
income  of  our  members  equal  to  seven  dollars 
per  month,  while  in  hosts  of  our  small  village 
congregations  the  total  income,  per  family,  is  not 
twenty-five  dollars  per  year.  And  in  these  last 
three  famine  years  often  the  village  catechist,  or 
pastor,  himself  on  a  salary  of  from  three  to  six 
dollars  per  month  for  self  and  family,  has  had, 
out  of  that  sum,  to  keep  a  pot  of  conjee,  or 
gruel,  boiling  all  the  day,  to  deal  out  a  little  to 
the  hungry  or  starving  of  his  flock,  or  of  in- 
quirers. 

What  does  retrenchment  mean  in  India  ?  I 
will  give  you  a  few  composite  photographs  taken 

183 


The  Cobra's  Den 


from  those  working  in  different  missions,  and 
from  these  safe  general  conclusions  may  be 
drawn,  without  a  tedious  array  of  statistics. 

THE  DISAPPOINTED  HOPE 

"Good  news,  wife,  good  news,"  called  Mr. 
G.,  as  he  sprang  from  the  horse  on  which  he  had 
ridden  twenty-three  miles  from  a  trip  in  the  dis- 
trict. "The  people  of  three  hamlets  near  K6tur 
have  given  up  their  idols,  pledged  themselves  to 
observe  the  Sabbath,  and  to  obey  all  Christian 
teachings  so  fast  as  they  are  taught  them.  They 
promise  to  send  their  children  to  school  to  learn 
to  read  the  Bible  and  Christian  books,  and  I  have 
promised  to  give  them  two  teachers,  for  two  of 
the  hamlets  are  near  each  other,  and  one  school 
will  do  for  both.  They  are  in  hereditary  servi- 
tude to  the  head  man  of  the  neighbouring  caste 
town,  and  are  wretchedly  poor,  but  they  seem  to 
be  really  in  earnest.  We  shall  get  hold  of  their 
children,  even  if  we  do  not  make  very  intelligent 
Christians  out  of  the  older  people.  Now  if  that 
extra  $200  that  1  asked  for  in  the  new  year's  ap- 
propriation comes,  it  will  just  cover  the  abso- 
lutely necessary  outlay  in  these  three  villages, 
and  in  the  two  that  1  received  last  month, 
eighteen  miles  south.    There  is  evidently  a 

184 


How  the  "Cut"  Cuts 


movement  toward  Christianity  among  these 
down-trodden  people,  and  if  we  can  only  pro- 
vide them  with  teachers,  we  shall  see  a  grand  in- 
gathering. Thank  God  for  giving  us  this  open- 
ing, for  which  we  have  long  been  praying  and 
working." 

His  wife  tried  to  look  glad,  but  failed,  as  she 
led  him  in  for  the  cup  of  tea  and  slice  of  toast 
she  had  prepared  since  seeing  him  come  over  the 
knoll  a  mile  away,  and  until  he  had  had  this  re- 
freshment she  would  not  tell  him  of  the  home 
mail,  with  its  freight  of  crushing  news  that  had 
come  during  his  absence. 

He  needed  the  refreshment,  for  even  then  his 
hands  trembled  as  he  held  the  letter  and  read  the 
imperative  orders  for  a  ten  per  cent,  retrench- 
ment on  the  last  year's  expenditure,  instead  of 
his  hoped-for  expansion,  and  then,  putting  his 
head  on  his  hands,  the  strong  man  sobbed. 
"Then  these  seekers  to  whom  1  have  promised 
the  bread  of  life  must  go  back  and  feed  on  their 
old  ashes.  O  God,  what  does  Thy  Church 
mean  thus  to  play  fast  and  loose  with  thirsty 
souls  ? — to  send  me  to  proclaim  in  all  this  dis- 
trict '  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to 
the  waters,'  and  then  strike  the  cup  of  the  water 
of  life  from  their  lips  as  they  bend  to  drink. 

185 


The  Cobra's  Den 


Merciful  Jesus,  show  Thy  Church  what  they  are 
doing." 

THE  ABANDONED  MISSION  SCHOOL 

The  heart  of  Mr.  K.,  missionary  at  Tenevur, 
had  been  greatly  gladdened  two  years  before,  by 
the  reception  of  a  petition  from  the  town  of 
Bibinagar,  twenty  miles  west,  signed  by  the 
leading  inhabitants,  Brahmans,  merchants,  arti- 
sans, farmers,  begging  him  to  take  under  his 
charge,  as  a  mission  school,  an  Anglo-vernacular 
school  which  they  had  established  a  few  years 
before  for  the  education  of  their  sons.  They  ex- 
pressed their  perfect  willingness  to  have  him  in- 
troduce the  Bible,  as  a  text-book,  in  each  class, 
every  day,  for  they  had  noticed  that  the  study  of 
the  Bible  elevated  the  character  of  those  who 
studied  it,  even  though  they  did  not  become 
Christians. 

He  found  these  people  in  earnest.  The  fees 
paid  by  the  boys  entirely  supplied  the  salaries  of 
the  present  masters.  The  missionary  put  in  bet- 
ter teachers  and  added  a  new  Bible  master.  In 
two  years  the  people  had  grown  to  appreciate 
the  school  so  much  that  higher  fees  could  be 
collected.  But,  with  the  Bible  master,  it  still 
required  $ioo  per  year  from  mission  funds  to 
keep  it  up.    It  was  worth  it.    Christianity  was 

186 


How  the  "Cut"  Cuts 


gaining  its  first  foothold  in  that  town,  in  that 
taluk,  or  county.  The  people  were  listening  with 
respect,  and  attention,  and  interest,  to  the  weekly 
preaching. 

Then  a  heavy  letter  came  from  the  Home 
Board;  heavy  with  heartache.  "Retrenchment, 
immediate,  must  be  made  at  all  the  stations." 
The  proportion  falling  on  Tenevur  was  Rs. 
1,000  (three  hundred  dollars).  Sadly  Mr.  K. 
went  over  every  expenditure,  cut  off  Rs.  50  here, 
75  there,  100  in  another  place;  dismissed  three 
natives  agents,  though  they  knew  of  no  other 
employment;  and  yet  there  was  Rs.  300  (one 
hundred  dollars)  more  that  must  be  cut  off.  No 
other  way  could  be  found.  The  Bibinagar 
school  had  to  be  given  up.  The  Bible  teacher 
was  obliged  to  leave.  It  was  reorganised  as  a 
heathen  school,  and  Bibinagar  was  enveloped  in 
its  pristine  darkness. 

THRUST  BACK  INTO  HEATHENISM 

"Jesus  loves  me,  this  I  know,  for  the  Biblt 
tells  me  so,"  sang  Sikamani,  (Crown-jewel),  the 
little  Brahman  girl,  as  she  entered  her  father's 
house  from  Miss  v.  R.'s  caste  girls'  school  in 
Singapuram,  and  her  musical  voice  rang  through 
the  zenana  apartments. 

187 


The  Cobra's  Den 


"  Here,  my  lotus  blossom,  what  is  that  you  are 
singing  ?  Who  is  Jesus  ?  anc}  what  is  the  Bible  ? " 
asked  her  kindly-faced  grandmother.  "Come 
and  sit  down,  and  tell  us  all  about  it." 

It  was  a  leisure  hour,  and  all  the  zenana  women 
gathered  and,  seated  on  the  mats  around,  listened 
while  little  "  Crown-jewel "  sang  more  of  the 
beautiful  songs  Miss  v.  R.  had  taught  them,  in 
their  own  vernaculars.  Then  she  told  them  all 
she  had  learned  about  that  loving  Jesus  "who 
died  that  we  all,  yes,  we  women  too,  may  be 
saved."  Daily  in  this  Brahman's  home,  in  mer- 
chants' and  artisans'  homes,  were  such  scenes 
witnessed  since  Miss  v.  R.  had,  one  year  before, 
opened  the  first  Hindu  girls'  school  in  all  that 
region.  The  school  had  filled  its  building  in  the 
Brahman  street,  and  Miss  v.  R.  had  just  engaged 
to  rent  another  in  the  Goldsmiths'  street,  and 
open  another  school,  and  already  scores  of  pupils 
had  made  application  to  be  received. 

Miss  V.  R.  had  come  home  joyously  from  com- 
pleting the  arrangements,  making  melody  in  her 
heart  unto  the  Lord  for  giving  her  such  opportu- 
nities, for  she  was  already  getting  an  entrance 
into  one  and  another  of  her  pupils'  homes,  to 
talk  with  their  mothers  and  aunts.  On  her  table 
lay  the  evening  letters.    One,  from  the  secretary 

188 


How  the  "Cut"  Cuts 


of  the  mission,  she  seized,  opened,  read,  and 
sank  into  a  chair,  while  disappointment  and  de- 
spair, too  dry  for  tears,  shook  her  slender  frame. 
"  Killing  retrenchments  ordered  from  home.  No 
appropriation  for  Hindu  girls'  school.  Must 
close  them  all  from  end  of  next  month."  That 
school  cost  Rs.  223,  or  $75  per  year.  The  new 
one  would  cost  the  same.  But  the  home  church 
was  too  poor  to  afford  the  $150,  so  the  order  had 
come  as  to  all  those  Hindu  homes  into  which  the 
light  was  beginning  to  steal,  "  Shut  out  the  light, 
shut  in  the  darkness." 

DR.  ANNA  AND  HER  PATIENTS 

Dr.  Anna  B.,  sent  out  five  years  before,  had 
opened  out  a  very  fine  and  desperately  needed 
medical  work  in  Bilanagar.  Her  hospital  with 
twenty  beds  for  in-patients  was  always  filled, 
while  the  hundred  out-patients  daily  were  blessed 
with  her  medicines,  her  skill,  and  her  prayers. 
The  seeds  of  the  kingdom  were  daily  sown  in 
hundreds  of  grateful  souls.  Some  seemed  ger- 
minating. More  patients  were  begging  for  treat- 
ment than  she  could  possibly  receive  on  her 
appropriations.  She  had  sent  a  strong  appeal 
for  an  increase  in  funds,  and  an  assistant  or  as- 
sociate, as  the  work  was  more  than  she  could 
189 


The  Cobra's  Den 


do.  "Impossible.  Funds  not  coming  in.  Can- 
not keep  up  even  present  appropriations.  Re- 
trench fifteen  per  cent,  from  January  ist.  Im- 
perative." 

Siclc  at  heart  she  went  over  every  expendi- 
ture to  see  where  she  could  possibly  cut  down. 
Medicines  and  necessaries  for  treatment  must  be 
had.  A  small  reduction  was  possible  in  a  few 
minor  points,  but  on  "diets  of  in-patients"  must 
nearly  the  whole  reduction  fall.  There  was  no 
help  for  it.  Hereafter  but  ten  of  the  twenty  beds 
could  be  filled,  for  the  people  coming  from  dis- 
tant villages  were  all  too  poor  to  provide  food 
for  themselves  away  from  home.  Ten  beds 
were  packed  away,  as  they  were  vacated.  The 
remaining  ten  were  all  filled  with  important 
cases,  and  Dr.  Anna  prayed  for  a  hard  heart,  to 
enable  her  to  refuse  others. 

"Will  the  dear  lady  doctor  please  come  and 
see  a  dying  woman  in  Kullur,  four  miles  north  ?  " 
A  young  mother,  fourteen  years  old,  whom  na- 
tive midwives  had  horribly  maltreated,  from 
want  of  skill  and  knowledge,  was  what  she 
found.  Her  life  might  still  be  saved  by  the  ut- 
most skill  and  care,  if  she  could  be  placed  in  a 
hospital,  not  otherwise.  "  Bring  her  in  on  her 
bed.    I  will  try."   Half-way  back  and  Dr.  Anna 

190 


How  the  "Cut"  Cuts 

was  stopped  at  a  hamlet  to  see  a  young  girl,  ter- 
ribly gored  by  a  bull.  "  Bring  her  in  too."  As 
she  neared  the  hospital  a  woman  wrapped  in  a 
blanket  tied  as  a  hammock  to  a  long  bamboo, 
and  "borne  of  four,"  was  laid  on  the  veranda  of 
the  hospital,  with  a  foot  dropping  off  from  gan- 
grene, the  result  of  the  bite  of  a  poisonous,  but 
not  deadly,  serpent.  The  love  of  Jesus  pulsed 
in  Dr.  Anna's  heart.  She  could  not  say  no. 
"Take  her  in,"  and  so  of  two  others  equally 
needy  who  came.  But  how  were  they  to  be 
fed? 

Dr.  Anna  had  already  devoted  all  she  could 
spare  from  her  small  salary  to  purchase  addi- 
tional medicines  for  the  growing  throngs  of  out- 
patients. Now,  to  feed  these,  her  suffering  sis- 
ters while  they  were  being  healed,  she  gave  up 
the  more  expensive  articles  in  her  own  diet, 
meat,  eggs,  fruit,  etc.,  and  struggled  on,  giving 
her  every  energy  to  her  increasing  number  of 
patients,  and  working  harder,  if  possible,  even 
on  her  unnourishing  diet.  Months  thus  sped  by. 
One  morning  she  fainted  at  her  work,  and  fell 
upon  the  masonry  floor  of  her  hospital.  An  ad- 
jacent missionary  was  hastily  called.  An  English 
doctor  of  experience  and  skill  came  from  the 
large  town  near.    "Nervous  prostration  and 

191 


The  Cobra's  Den 


threatening  paralysis,  from  overstrain  and  lack 
of  nourishment.  Must  be  put  on  the  first  steamer 
and  sent  home  as  the  only  hope,"  was  his  un- 
hesitating verdict. 

Her  Board  had  saved  $ioo  by  the  cut,  and  paid 
$200  to  take  home  poor  wrecked  Dr.  Anna  B. 
The  sick  were  deserted,  and  the  hospital  closed. 
The  murmur  went  around  the  home  land,  "What 
a  mysterious  Providence  that  strong  and  vigorous 
Dr.  Anna  B.  should  be  stricken  down  after  only 
six  years  of  service,  and  just  when  she  was  most 
needed." 

****** 
These  incidents  occurred  in  no  one  mission,  in 
no  one  year.  But  they  are  true  illustrations  of 
what  are  the  terrible  burdens  put  upon  her  mis- 
sionaries by  the  wholesale  cuts  ordered  by  the 
home  church,  in  ignorance,  let  us  hope,  of  the 
havoc  they  sometimes  necessitate.  Only  a  few 
of  the  actual  workings  of  retrenchment  have 
been  pictured,  for  my  heart  is  too  heavy  to  gaze 
further  myself,  or  open  to  the  gaze  of  others  all 
that  a  ten,  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent,  reduction 
involves.  For  here  and  there,  in  this  mission 
and  that,  it  means  all  that  I  have  pictured,  and 
more. 

Retrenchment  means  the  dismissing  of  faithful 

192 


How  the  "Cut"  Cuts 


catechists  in  half-instructed  little  village  congre- 
gations of  those  too  poor  and  hungry  themselves 
to  feed  the  catechist  and  his  family.  It  means 
the  sending  away  of  Bible  women,  and  zenSna 
workers  who  are  gaining  an  entrance,  or  are 
eagerly  welcomed  in  many  houses  where  "the 
Sweetest  Name"  is  beginning  to  be  lisped.  It 
means  the  closing  of  scores  of  day-schools  at- 
tended by  the  worshippers  of  Vishnu  or  fol- 
lowers of  Mohammed,  who,  in  those  schools, 
are  daily  reading  and  learning  the  teachings  of 
the  Nazarene.  It  means  the  giving  up  of  preach- 
ing tours  in  "  the  regions  beyond,"  with  glad  in- 
vitations to  the  gospel  feast.  It  means  the  clos- 
ing or  cutting  down  of  schools  for  training  young 
men  and  young  women  to  be  the  Timothys,  and 
the  Loises,  yes,  the  Barnabases  and  Pauls  of  the 
militant  church  of  Christ  in  India.  It  means  the 
sending  out  word  to  all  seeking  communities  who 
are  too  poor  to  pay  for  a  teacher.  "Don't  give 
up  your  idols  and  avow  yourselves  Christians 
now,  for  we  can  send  no  one  to  teach  you  how 
to  find  and  follow  Jesus!  " 

O  Christ,  who  seest  Thy  crippled  work,  Thy 
delayed  chariot  in  India,  rouse,  rouse  Thy  people 
to  a  just  appreciation  of  what  they  themselves 

owe  to  Thee;  of  what  Thou  dost  expect  of  them. 
193 


The  Cobra's  Den 

Summon  with  insistent,  with  resistless  voice, 
those  redeemed  by  Thee  to  become  Thy  working- 
partners  in  that  stupendous  work,  the  salvation 
of  a  sin-lost  world. 


194 


XIX 


HOW  HINDU  CHRISTIANS  GIVE* 

There  are  a  few  peculiar  facts  in  connection 
with  the  work  carried  on  by  your  missionaries 
in  India  which  the  Church  at  home  should  know. 
There  has  hitherto  been  a  misunderstanding  in 
the  matter.  It  is  time  that  it  was  corrected. 
The  matter  that  I  refer  to  is  the  benevolence  of 
our  native  churches  in  India. 

I  have  been  asked  by  ministers  of  our  church 
within  the  past  few  weeks, 

"Why  is  it  that  the  native  churches  in  India 
do  so  little  in  the  way  of  benevolence  and  self- 
support  ?  Do  not  the  last  minutes  of  the  General 
Synod  report  the  whole  contributions  of  the 
churches  of  the  Classis,  or  Presbytery,  of  Arcot 
for  these  purposes  to  be  only  ^qqb.oo?" 

Upon  my  replying  that  they  are  not  backward 
in  their  benevolence  in  proportion  to  their  means, 
the  further  question  was  asked, 

"  Do  no  men  of  means  join  you  among  your 
converts  ? " 

'  An  address  before  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed 
(Dutch)  Church  at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J., 
195 


The  Cobra's  Den 


It  is  to  the  peculiar  facts  connected  with  the 
solution  of  the  first  of  these  questions  that  I  now 
aslc  your  attention.  The  second  will  be  answered 
later  on. 

The  difference  in  the  real  value  of  money  in 
India  and  America  is  the  first  of  these  facts. 

I  hold  before  you  two  coins.  The  one  is  a 
silver  dollar,  the  other  is  a  dime.  You  notice  the 
difference  in  size,  you  know  the  difference  in 
value  You  will  doubtless  be  surprised  when  I 
tell  you  that  in  purchasing  power  of  food,  of 
clothing,  and  of  labour  among  the  natives,  the 
dime  in  India  is  worth  fully  as  much  as,  if  not 
more  than,  the  dollar  in  America,  and  this  fact 
must  be  taken  into  account  in  estimating  the  real 
benevolence  of  the  native  churches.  But  first  let 
me  explain  the  facts. 

I  said  that  the  dime  in  India  is  worth  as  much 
as  the  dollar  in  America  in  procuring  the  food, 
clothing,  and  labour  of  natives.  To  prevent  mis- 
understanding I  must,  however,  here  premise 
that  it  is  not  so  as  regards  the  necessaries  of  life 
for  Europeans.  It  has  been  proved  by  experi- 
ments, costly  in  life  and  health,  that  Europeans 
cannot  live  in  India  as  natives  do.  They  cannot 
live  in  native  houses,  dress  in  native  clothing, 
and  live  on  native  food  without  loss  of  life,  or  of 

196 


How  Hindu  Christians  Give 


health.  We  must,  if  we  would  retain  vigour  for 
successful  work,  live  somewhat  in  the  style,  and 
have  somewhat  of  the  comforts,  to  which  we 
have  been  accustomed  at  home.  But  the  moment 
that  we  step  outside  of  the  native  diet,  articles  of 
food  become  expensive.  Our  clothing,  or  ma- 
terials for  it,  must  all  be  brought  out  from  Eng- 
land, France  or  America,  and  on  it  we  must  pay 
freight,  duty  and  commission.  So  of  books, 
periodicals,  newspapers,  and  all  the  numberless 
httle  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life.  Thus, 
alas,  to  your  missionaries  in  India  the  dollar  if 
worth,  in  very  many  things,  much  less  than  the 
dollar  at  home. 

But  among  natives  it  is  different.  The  equiva- 
lent of  a  dime  counts  more  in  wages  in  India 
than  the  dollar  in  America.  In  Arcot,  Vellore, 
and  Chittoor,  the  best  bricklayers,  the  best 
masons,  the  best  carpenters  can  be  hired  for 
twenty-five  cents  a  day.  Will  multiplying  by 
ten  secure  you  the  labour  of  masons  and  car- 
penters here  ?  Harvest  hands  will  work  all  day 
in  India  for  from  six  to  nine  cents,  and  board 
themselves.  You  must  multiply  by  twenty  to 
secure  hands  for  your  harvest  fields  in  America. 
The  cooly  women  will  work  all  day  in  the  fields 
or  in  the  house  for  from  three  to  five  cents  per 

197 


The  Cobra's  Den 


day.  I  pay  my  gardener  and  water-carrier  $2.75 
per  month,  and  he  boards  himself,  and  that  is 
considered  good  wages.  1  can  hire  a  man  with 
oxen  and  cart  for  I7.50  per  month,  and  he  boards 
himself  and  feeds  his  oxen.  The  teachers  of 
many  of  our  village  schools  receive  a  salary  of 
but  l30to  I36  per  year,  to  support  themselves 
and  family.  Our  highest  paid  native  pastors  re- 
ceive but  $150  salary.  Not  more  than  two  re- 
ceive that.  The  most  of  our  native  preachers  or 
catechists  receive  from  $60  to  $90  per  year. 

So  much  for  wages.  The  cost  of  living  is  in 
proportion.  1  remember  a  fairly  educated  single 
man,  who  had  recently  come  to  Madanapalle  for 
employment,  appealing  to  me  in  trouble,  saying 
that  they  asked  exorbitantly  for  board  there,  and 
that  he  could  not  stay.  I  asked  him  how  much 
he  had  to  pay.  He  told  me,  with  great  indigna- 
tion, that  they  had  the  face  to  charge  him  $1.75 
per  month  for  his  board,  and  that  he  had  never 
paid  so  high  in  his  life  before! 

As  for  clothing;  a  fairly  well-to-do  man's  suit, 
complete,  will  cost  from  $2  to  $3,  and  a  woman's 
from  $1.75  to  $2.50.  Rich  men  and  women 
dress  extravagantly  there  as  here.  Our  native 
preachers  make  their  pastoral  calls  and  preach  in 
suits  costing  not  over  $3  to  I4.   The  wedding 

198 


How  Hindu  Christians  Give 


trousseau  of  the  bride  of  a  native  preacher  usu- 
ally costs  not  more  than  from  $io  to  $14.  A 
student  can  be  educated  in  the  Arcot  Academy  or 
the  Female  Seminary  for  from  I30  to  $40  per 
year,  according  to  age,  and  that  includes  board, 
clothing,  books,  tuition  and  incidentals.  Many  a 
father  would  be  glad  to  have  his  son's  expenses 
here  come  within  ten  times  that  amount. 

You  will  see  at  once  that  the  income  and  the 
expenditure  of  our  native  Christians  in  India  must 
be  multiplied  by  ten  to  approximate  at  all  to  in- 
come and  expenditure  among  our  churches  in 
America.  You  must  apply  the  same  rule  to  their 
benevolence,  when  comparing  it  with  the  benevo- 
lence of  our  home  churches.  If  in  this  light  you 
will  look  at  the  statistical  tables  in  the  last  min- 
utes of  General  Synod,  you  will  see  that  the 
benevolent  contributions  of  the  churches  in  the 
Arcot  Mission  are  not  small. 

The  Classis  of  Arcot  is  young,  and  not  yet 
strong.  Let  us  compare  its  contributions  with 
some  of  the  country  Classes  of  the  Church  at 
home.  For  this  purpose  I  have  taken  one  Classis 
from  the  Synod  of  New  York,  one  from  the 
Synod  of  Albany,  one  from  the  Synod  of  Chicago, 
and  one  from  the  Synod  of  New  Brunswick. 
Each  of  these  Classes  is  older  than  the  Classis  of 

199 


The  Cobra's  Den 


Arcot.  The  four  Classes  I  have  chosen  (one 
from  each  Synod)  aggregate  6,857  communicants, 
and  their  contributions  for  "  Religious  and  Benev- 
olent Purposes  "  (not  for  the  support  of  their  own 
ministry),  as  given  in  the  table,  aggregate 
309.87,  or  77>^  cents  per  member,  on  the  average. 

In  the  same  table  you  will  see  it  stated  that  the 
Classis  of  Arcot,  with  its  1,582  members,  gave 
for  the  same  purposes  $511,  which  is  equal  to  32^^ 
cents  per  member,  or  if  you  multiply  by  ten,  as  is 
only  fair  from  the  above  showing,  you  will  find 
that  their  real  benevolence  is  equivalent  to  $3.23 
per  member,  or  more  than  four  times  that  of  the 
American  Classes  just  mentioned. 

But  in  order  that  we  may  understand  what  the 

native  benevolence  really  is,  and  what  self-denial 

it  requires,  let  us  take  a  single  church  in  the 

Classis  of  Arcot,  and  analyse  its  benevolence,  and 

the  resources  of  its  members.    For  this  purpose  I 

take  the  church  of  Madanapalle,  because  I  know 

its  benevolence,  and  the  circumstances  of  its 

members  better  than  I  do  those  of  any  other 

church  in  the  Classis  of  Arcot.    That  you  may 

verify  my  statements,  I  take  the  report  of  the 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions  for  this  last  year, 

1885-6,  which  has  just  been  laid  before  Synod, 

and  which  is  now  in  your  hands.    In  the  statis- 
200 


How  Hindu  Christians  Give 

tical  table  of  the  Arcot  Mission  you  will  find  it 
stated  that  the  Church  of  Madanapalle,  with  its 
seventy-four  communicants,  contributed  for  all 
purposes  Rs.  275.  The  rupee  is  worth  just  a 
half-dollar  in  silver,  and  for  all  purposes  of  com- 
parison, both  in  expenditure  and  income,  I  have 
reckoned  two  rupees  to  the  dollar.  Thus  calcu- 
lated, the  contributions  of  the  native  church  of 
Madanapalle  for  1885  would  be  I132.50  for  the 
seventy-four  communicants. 

Now,  who  are  these  seventy-four  members, 
and  what  are  their  circumstances  ?  I  know  them 
well.  The  average  income  of  fifty-five  of  them 
would  not  be  over  $30  per  year.  That  of  ten 
others  is  over  $48  and  under  $60.  That  of  eight 
others  is  over  $60  and  not  over  $100.  Only  one 
member  of  that  church  has  an  income  of  over 
$100,  and  his  is  $162.  The  total  yearly  income 
of  these  seventy-four  members  would  then  be: 

55  averaging      .      .      .$  30  =  $1,650.00 
10      "     ,      .      .      .54=  540.00 
8      "...      .    72=  576.00 
1  ....  102=  162.00 

Total  yearly  income      .      .  $2,928.00 

Divide  this  total  yearly  income  among  the 

seventy-four  church  members,  and  you  will  have 

the  average  yearly  income  of  $39.57  per  member, 
201 


The  Cobra's  Den 


and  yet  they  give  for  benevolent  and  church  pur- 
poses $1.85  per  member,  or  nearly  one-twentieth 
of  the  total  income  of  the  members. 

Can  you  show  me  one  single  church  in  our 
whole  communion  in  America  that  gives  one- 
hundredth  of  the  income  of  its  members  for  be- 
nevolent and  church  purposes?  If  you  can,  I 
will  go  directly  to  that  church  and  present  the 
missionary  cause,  assured  of  a  rousing  collection. 

In  the  Board's  Report,  it  is  stated  by  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Scudder,  the  resident  missionary,  that  the 
Madanapalle  church  has  been  employing  and  pay- 
ing the  salary  of  Abraham  Nannia  Sahib, — the 
convert  from  Mohammedanism, — in  evangelistic 
work  among  the  Hindus  and  Mohammedans  of 
the  "region  beyond."  He  is  the  missionary  of 
that  church,  solely  supported  by  them. 

Out  of  the  total  contributions  of  Rs.  27$ 
spoken  of  above,  this  little  church,  only  lately 
gathered  in  a  heathen  land,  pays  to  the  Pastors' 
Fund  the  equivalent  of  one-half  of  the  salary  of 
the  Senior  Catechist  (the  unordained  native 
preacher  in  charge  of  the  church),  and  supports 
its  own  missionary  among  the  heathen  beyond, 
and  over  and  above  this,  contributes  out  of  their 
poverty  $1.08  per  member  to  outside  benevo- 
lence. 

202 


How  Hindu  Christians  Give 


In  the  minutes  of  Synod  before  referred  to,  it 
is  shown  that  the  83,702  members  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  gave  last  year  $233,996.46  for 
"  Religious  and  Benevolent  Purposes,"  aside  from 
the  support  of  their  own  churches.  This  makes 
an  average  of  $2.80  per  communicant  for  the 
whole  Reformed  Church.  By  the  side  of  this, 
place  the  $1.08  per  member  actually  given  for 
outside  benevolence  by  the  church  at  Madana- 
palle,  and  then  multiply  it  by  ten,  as  shown 
above,  to  find  their  real  comparative  benevolence, 
and  you  will  have  your  Hindu  Christians  giving 
the  equivalent  of  $10.80  per  member,  per  year,  as 
against  the  $2.80  per  member  of  the  church  in 
America. 

Will  my  friend  who  asked  the  question  a  few 
weeks  ago  ask  again:  "Why  is  it  that  the  na- 
tive churches  in  India  do  so  little  in  the  way  of 
benevolence  and  self-support?" 

Does  not  the  Classis  of  Arcot,  tried  by  the 
above  standard,  the  rather  stand  out  as  the  Ban- 
ner Classis  of  our  whole  communion  ?  I  have 
spoken  only  of  the  church  at  Madanapalle,  but 
the  church  at  Tindivanam  and  other  churches  in 
our  mission  would  make  nearly  the  same  show- 
ing had  we  the  data  to  work  them  up. 

How  is  this  amount  raised  among  these  com- 

203 


The  Cobra's  Den 


paratively  moneyless  people  ?  Our  Christians 
give  until  they  feel  it.  The  senior  catechist  at 
Madanapalle,  who  has  been  supported  for  twenty- 
three  years  by  the  Sabbath-school  of  the  church 
in  Kinderhook,  N.  Y.,  and  who  receives  only 
$ioo  salary,  always  gives  in  benevolence  one- 
tenth,  and  often  one-eighth  of  his  income,  as  I 
well  know.  He  has  a  family  of  eight  children. 
One  of  the  higher  paid  native  pastors  in  our  mis- 
sion, who  receives  nearly  $150  per  year  salary, 
makes  one-tenth  his  minimum,  and  often  gives 
one-eighth  or  one-seventh  of  his  income  to  the 
Lord. 

Scores  of  our  native  Christians  loyally  make 
one-tenth  their  minimum  in  giving,  and  those 
who  have  no  money  give  in  substance.  In  many 
of  our  Christian  families  in  the  villages  who  have 
no  money  to  give,  the  mother,  with  the  consent 
of  the  family,  takes  out  a  handful  of  the  allotted 
grain  as  she  prepares  the  daily  meal,  and  when 
Sunday  comes  makes  the  family  offering  unto  the 
Lord  in  kind. 

The  pupils  of  some  of  our  boarding-schools 
agree  to  go  without  a  part  of  the  scanty  portion 
of  meat  that  is  allowed  them  only  on  certain 
days  of  the  week,  and  jointly  contribute  the 
price  of  the  meat  saved  in  the  collection  on  Sun- 

204 


How  Hindu  Christians  Give 

day.  In  other  of  our  schools,  when  the  rice  is 
taken  out  for  the  midday  meal  by  the  cook,  one 
of  the  pupils  goes,  by  appointment  of  the  others, 
and  takes  out  so  many  gills  of  the  rice  and  puts 
it  into  the  treasury  basket,  and  on  Saturday  it  is 
sold  and  the  avails  divided  around  to  be  put  in 
the  collection  on  the  morrow. 

At  a  missionary  meeting  at  which  I  was  pres- 
ent, as  we  were  raising  missionary  money,  one 
member  said:  "I  have  no  money  that  I  can 
give,  but  I  have  a  new  milch  cow;  I  will  spare 
one-third  of  all  the  milk  she  gives  until  she  goes 
dry,  if  any  one  will  agree  to  take  it  daily,  and 
put  the  value  in  money  in  the  missionary  collec- 
tion." The  milk  was  at  once  bespoken,  and  that 
cow  gave  milk  well  and  long  that  year.  A 
widow  woman  took  off  her  choicest  "toe-ring " 
(for  they  use  them  there  as  much  as  finger  rings), 
and  put  it  in  the  contribution  box.  It  was  pur- 
chased for  half  a  dollar,  and  that  sum  went  into 
the  box  as  the  widow's  gift. 

And  other  widows  give  until  we  sometimes 
hesitate  to  take  all  that  they  bring  to  consecrate 
to  the  Lord.  Our  native  Christians  are  not  all 
liberal.  There  are  some  in  India  as  well  as  in 
America  who  seem  to  wish  to  get  everything 
from  Christ  and  give  nothing  to  Him.    But  your 

205 


The  Cobra's  Den 


missionaries  strive,  both  by  precept  and  by  ex- 
ample, to  teach  them  the  blessedness  of  giving 
for  the  Lord's  work  until  they  feel  it.  I  know  of 
no  missionary  who  does  not  consecrate  at  least 
one-tenth  of  his  small  income  to  the  Lord,  and 
we  try  to  bring  all  our  converts  up  to  the  same 
standard;  and  of  very  many  in  our  churches  we 
can  joyfully  say,  as  did  Paul  of  the  churches  in 
Macedonia,  "For  to  their  power,  I  bear  record; 
yea,  and  beyond  their  power  they  are  willing  of 
themselves;  for  their  deep  poverty  abounded 
unto  the  riches  of  their  liberality." 

When  this  matter  is  fairly  understood  the 
Hindu  native  churches  will  no  longer  be  chided 
for  the  meagreness  of  their  contributions. 


206 


XX 


A  MERCHANT  OF  MEANS  JOINS  US 

The  second  question  asked  by  my  interroga- 
tor as  mentioned  in  the  last  chapter  was,  "Do 
no  men  of  means  join  you  ?  How  is  it  that 
your  native  churches  in  India  are  financially  so 
weak  ?" 

Yes,  some  men  of  substance  have  joined  us, 
but  their  substance  has  not.  In  every  case  where 
men  of  position  and  property  have  become  Chris- 
tians in  our  mission,  they  have  suffered  the  loss 
of  all  things.  I  could  give  a  number  of  instances 
to  illustrate  this.  I  will  give  but  one  and  that 
briefly. 

Bala  Chetti,  a  merchant  of  Palmaner,  was  con- 
verted in  1865,  under  Dr.  Silas  Scudder,  then  the 
missionary  there.  An  account  of  the  conversion 
is  given  in  the  annual  report  of  the  mission  for 
that  year.  Bala  Chetti  was  a  well-to-do  mer- 
chant of  the  town,  of  high  caste  and  extensive 
family  connections.  He  was  one  of  several 
brothers  who  held  an  undivided  ancestral  estate, 
and  carried  on  their  business  in  common.  He 
had  been  an  inquirer  for  some  months. 

207 


The  Cobra's  Den 


He  finally  broke  his  caste  and  became  a  Chris- 
tian. A  mob  collected,  armed  with  various  weap- 
ons, seeking  to  kill  him.  He  eluded  them  and 
escaped  to  the  mission  premises.  On  Sunday, 
when  he  went  to  church  with  the  missionary  to 
be  baptised,  the  carriage  in  which  they  went  had 
to  be  guarded  by  the  police.  The  church  was 
surrounded  and  taken  possession  of  by  the  mob. 
Only  He  who  restraineth  the  wrath  of  man  could, 
and  He  did  restrain  that  mob.  Bala  Chetti  took 
refuge,  for  a  time,  at  the  mission  house.  When 
the  excitement  was  somewhat  over,  he  went  to 
his  house  in  the  town.  His  wife  had,  before 
this,  when  he  first  became  a  Christian,  spat  upon 
him,  and  gone  home  to  her  parents,  taking  their 
only  son  with  her. 

He  now  found  that  his  brothers  had  walled  up 
with  masonry  the  entrance  to  his  part  of  the  large 
common  residence.  He  could  only  get  in  by 
climbing  over  the  barred  scullery  gate  in  the  rear. 
He  found  it  deserted  and  empty.  He  wished  to 
continue  with  his  brothers  in  the  management  of 
their  bazaar.  They  spat  upon  him  in  the  streets, 
and  would  not  let  "this  dog  of  a  Christian" 
enter  their  place  of  business.  Foiled  in  this,  he 
brought  suit  in  the  Civil  Court  for  the  division  of 
the  paternal  estate,  that  he  might  take  his  share 

208 


A  Merchant  of  Means  Joins  Us 

and  do  business  alone,  if  they  would  not  allow 
him  to  keep  on  with  them. 

His  brothers  brought  in  forged  documents  and 
suborned  witnesses  to  swear  that  he  had  already 
drawn  out  and  squandered  the  whole  of  his  share 
of  the  estate.  Not  a  witness  could  be  found  to 
testify  for  this  "renegade  and  outcast."  They 
dared  not.  The  judge  openly  said  he  suspected 
the  documents  to  be  forged  and  the  witnesses 
false,  but  there  was  no  rebutting  testimony,  and 
the  case  went  against  him,  and  his  property,  that 
might  have  been  a  help  to  the  Christian  church, 
was  all  gone. 

After  a  time  he  brought  suit  in  court  for  the 
recovery  of  his  wife.  She  was  summoned  and 
appeared  at  the  District  Court  presided  over  by 
an  English  judge.  She  was  asked  if  she  would 
return  to  him ?  "No." 

Had  he  not  been  a  kind  husband  ?    "  Yes," 

Had  he  ever  abused  her  or  neglected  to  provide 
for  her  and  their  son  "Never." 

Why  would  she  not  return  to  him  then  ?  "Go 
with  that  Christian  dog!   Never! " 

Did  he  not  love  her  and  did  she  not  love  him  ? 
"  Yes,  before  he  became  a  renegade  to  his  ances- 
tral faith;  but  now  he  was  dead,  so  far  as  she 
was  concerned," 

209 


The  Cobra's  Den 


He  lost  his  wife  and  child  and  brothers  and 
house  and  lands  and  property  for  Christ's  salce 
and  the  gospel's.  All  was  gone  but  his  faith  in 
Christ,  but  to  that  he  held  firm. 

He  remained  for  a  time  with  the  missionary, 
studying  the  Bible.  He  could  not  again  be  a 
merchant.  He  had  been  boycotted;  nobody 
would  buy  of  him,  and  besides  his  capital  was 
all  gone.  To  gain  a  livelihood  he  enlisted  in  the 
government  police,  under  a  Christian  officer. 
That  he  might  be  free  from  continual  insults  and 
persecutions  he  was  sent  to  a  distant  district. 
The  cholera  swept  throught  that  district,  and 
Bala  Chetti  was  taken  up.  His  old  friends  said, 
"What  a  wreck!"  They  little  knew  his  eternal 
reward. 

From  this  one  representative  case  you  will  see 
how  it  is  that  the  Church  of  Christ  in  newly- 
entered  districts  in  India  is  still  poor;  why  our 
churches  must  still  be  helped.  But  the  leaven  is 
working.  It  is  working  among  the  higher  classes 
as  well  as  among  the  low.  The  time  is  coming, 
it  draws  near,  when  multitudes  from  all  classes 
and  castes  will  join  us,  and  bring  their  substance 
with  them.  Till  then  let  the  Church  of  Christ  in 
Christian  countries  throw  in  her  help  in  no  stinted 
measure,  and,  by  the  aid  of  God's  spirit,  the  en- 

210 


A  Merchant  of  Means  Joins  Us 


ginery  will  be  produced  that  will  roll  through 
India  and  carry  it  all  for  Christ. 

"  I  gave  My  life  for  thee, 

My  precious  blood  I  shed 
That  thou  might'st  ransomed  be, 

And  quickened  from  the  dead, 
I  gave  My  life  for  thee, 

What  hast  thou  giv'n  for  Me  ?  " 


211 


XXI 


"BREAK  COCOANUTS  OVER  THE  WHEELS" 

We  had  recently  located  in  the  heathen  town 
of  Madanapalle,  India,  to  commence  missionary 
work  there.  The  time  for  the  annual  drawing 
of  the  great  idol  car  through  the  streets  of  the 
town  and  by  the  banks  of  the  river  had  come. 
Multitudes  of  votaries  from  all  the  villages  around, 
as  well  as  from  every  street  of  the  town  had  as- 
sembled before  the  car.  Great  rope  cables  were 
attached.  Hundreds  caught  hold  of  the  ropes. 
Up  went  the  shout,  "Had!  Hari!  Hayi!  Jayam!" 
"Vishnu!  Vishnu!  Joy  and  Victory!"  "Now 
pull,"  shouted  the  priests,  and  off  went  the 
three-storied  car  majestically  through  the  streets, 
amid  the  joyous  shouts  of  the  thousands  of 
spectators.  On  they  followed  it  to  the  river 
bank.  Libations  were  brought  and  poured  over 
the  car,  and  the  multitudinous  ceremonies  per- 
formed. 

Again,  with  similar  shouts,  they  began  the 
progress  around  by  different  streets,  back  to  the 
great  temple  before  which  the  car  always  reposed 

212 


HINDU  POTTERS  AT  THEIR  WORK 


A  GROUr  OK  HINDI'S  AT  DINNER 


"Break  Cocoanuts  Over  the  Wheels" 


for  the  year.  Half-way  back  and  the  car  came 
to  a  stand. 

"Pull,"  shouted  the  priests.  Pull  they  did. 
The  ropes  snapped  with  the  strain.  All  the 
wheels  were  examined;  no  stones  were  in  the 
way;  everything  seemed  right.  The  ropes  were 
tied  and  new  ones  added.  More  votaries  caught 
the  ropes.  "  All  pull,"  shouted  the  priests.  All 
bent  to  the  effort.    It  would  not  move. 

A  pallor  came  over  the  crowd.  "The  god  is 
angry  and  will  not  let  his  chariot  move,"  was 
whispered  along  the  streets.  A  feeling  of  dread 
shivered  through  the  multitude.  ' '  Yes, "  shouted 
the  Chief  Priest  from  the  car,  "the  god  is  angry. 
He  will  not  move  unless  you  propitiate  him. 
Run  all  of  you  and  bring  cocoanuts  and  break 
over  the  wheels,  and  as  the  fragrant  cocoanut 
milk  runs  down  over  the  wheels  the  god  will  ac- 
cept the  libation  and  graciously  allow  his  chariot 
to  move  on  again.  Run,  and  each  bring  a  cocoa- 
nut.  Run!" 

Men  and  boys  ran  for  the  cocoanuts;  the  resi- 
dents to  their  houses,  the  villagers  to  the  bazaars 
to  buy,  or  to  their  friends'  houses  to  borrow. 
Each  came  back  with  his  cocoanut,  and  broke  it 
over  one  of  the  wheels.  The  cocoanut  milk  ran 
along  the  streets. 

213 


The  Cobra's  Den 


"H^yi!  Jayam,"  shouted  the  priests.  "The 
god  is  now  propitious."  "Hayi!  Jayam!" 
"Joy!  Victory !"  shouted  the  multitude.  "Now, 
PULL  ALL,"  shouted  the  priests.  The  people  took 
heart;  dread  passed  away;  confidence  came. 
They  seized  the  ropes  and,  with  a  shout  that  re- 
sounded in  the  hills  a  mile  away,  they  gave  a 
pull.  Off  went  the  car,  and  soon,  with  singing 
and  dancing,  they  had  it  back  in  its  wonted 
place.  And  as  the  crowd  scattered  to  their  vil- 
lage homes,  the  news  ran  through  the  country: 
"The  car  got  set;  they  could  not  move  it  a  fin- 
ger-breadth ;  but  each  man  brought  a  cocoanut 
and  broke  over  the  wheels,  and  then  on  it  went 
with  a  rush  to  the  temple." 

I  could  not  help  recalling  this  incident  the 
other  night  as  I  read  the  important  Financial 
Statement  laid  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Foreign 
Board  before  the  recent  missionary  convention. 

God's  chariot  is  delayed.  His  Chariot  of  Sal- 
vation had  started  in  its  course  in  towns  of  India 
and  China  and  Japan  through  the  agency  of  the 
Reformed  Church.  Have  the  people  lost  heart, 
that  it  stands  still  ?  Has  discouragement  come 
upon  us  ? 

"Run  for  the  cocoaniits."    Let  each  man  and 

boy,  let  each  woman  and  each  child  bring  what 
214 


"Break  Cocoanuts  Over  the  Wheels" 

would  be  to  them  the  equivalent  in  value  of  a 
cocoanut  to  the  poor  Hindu,  as  an  offering  to  the 
Lord,  and  the  chariot  will  move  joyously  on. 

Had  one  rich  Hindu  given  a  thousand  cocoa- 
nuts  to  break  over  the  wheels  of  the  idol  car,  and 
the  multitude  not  given  any,  the  effect  would  not 
have  been  at  all  the  same.  Each  one  of  the 
throng  made  an  offering.  Each  one  felt  that  he 
had  a  share  in  it.  Each  one  took  courage.  Each 
one  shouted.  Each  one  pulled  and  on  went  the 
car. 

The  missionary  chariot  halts.  Many  villages 
are  pleading  for  a  missionary  or  a  native  preacher. 
Young  men  and  women,  eight  of  them,  are  offer- 
ing to  go  out  to  the  different  missions.  Heathen 
schools  are  offered  to  the  missionary  to  introduce 
the  Bible  in.  Young  converts  ask  to  be  trained 
to  be  preachers  to  their  kindred.  Every  mail 
tells  our  Board  of  onward  steps  that  should  be 
taken.  The  Board  cannot  reply,  "Go  on,"  for 
debt  stares  them  grimly  in  the  face. 

Shall  this  continue  so  ?  Dare  we  let  the  Lord's 
chariot  halt?  Oh,  that  every  one  of  the  80,000 
members  of  the  Reformed  Church,  every  one  of 
the  90,000  children  enrolled  in  our  Sunday  schools, 
every  one  of  the  200,000  adherents,  who  enjoy  the 
weekly  ministrations  of  our  sanctuaries  here  in 

215 


The  Cobra's  Den 


this  gospel  land,  would  hasten  to  bring  in  an 
offering  if  not  more  than  the  value  of  a  cocoanut, 
and  then  with  a  heart  in  the  work  they  would 
unitedly  send  up  a  paean  of  praise  and  a  shout  of 
Joy  and  Victory,  and  God  would  be  pleased  and 
His  chariot  would  move  on  right  gloriously. 

In  one  respect  our  illustration  fails;  for  here 
the  well-to-do  disciple  may  give  his  hundreds 
and  the  rich  his  thousands,  and,  they  will  help 
on  as  only  hundreds  and  thousands  can. 

Here  it  is  not  a  limited  number  of  cocoanuts 
that  can  be  used.  It  is  not  one  chariot  that  is 
delayed.  The  wheels  are  set  in  Tokyo  and  Yoko- 
hama and  Nagasaki;  in  Amoy  and  Sio-ke;  in 
Tindivanam  and  Chittoor  and  Madanapalle;  and 
new  chariots  should  be  put  in  motion  in  other 
places.  Let  the  well-to-do  send  in  their  cocoa- 
nuts  in  cooly  loads  and  cart  loads,  and  elephant 
loads,  aye  and  ship  loads,  for  there  is  need  of  all. 
Let  each  one,  man,  woman  and  child,  bring  in 
his  offering  even  as  God  has  prospered  him,  and 
bring  it  with  the  gladsome  shout  of  one  alive  to 
his  privilege  and  expecting  victory. 

Our  harvests  have  been  plentiful.  Let  us  put 
God  to  the  proof.  "  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into 
the  storehouse,  and  prove  me  now  herewith, 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  the 

21G 


"Break  Cocoanuts  Over  the  Wheels" 

windows  of  lieaven  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing 
that  there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive 
it." 

Let  the  cocoanuts  come.  Who  brings  the 
first  ?  What  church  sends  one  for  every  man, 
woman  and  child  on  its  roll  ?  Who  sends  the 
cooly  load  ?  Who  the  elephant  load  ?  Who  the 
ship  load  ?   "  Please  answer  soon." 


217 


XXII 


THE  WEAVING  OF  INDIA  RUGS,  OR  GOD's  PLAN  IN  OUR 
LIVES* 

In  complying  with  the  request  of  the  Classis  of 
New  Brunswick  that  I  should  be  the  one  to  give 
the  charge  to  you  to-day,  1  find  so  many  mem- 
ories crowding  upon  me,  so  many  conflicting 
emotions  filling  my  mind,  so  many  joyous  an- 
ticipations taking  possession  of  my  soul,  that  I 
find  it  difficult  to  choose  fitting  words  with 
which  to  fulfill  the  pleasing  duty  that  is  laid  upon 
me. 

For  memory  takes  me  back  at  a  single  step 
over  the  intervening  space,  as  I  so  vividly  recall 
the  scene  when,  just  twenty-seven  years  ago, 
my  much  loved  Hebrew  preceptor,  since  then 
your  venerated  College  President,''  gave  similar 
words  of  counsel  when  he  preached  the  sermon 
at  my  ordination  as  a  missionary  to  India,  and 
joined  then  in  laying  hands  of  consecration  on 
my  head,  as  he  has  now  done  on  yours. 

'  The  charge  at  the  ordination  of  William  I.  Chamberlain  as 
missionary  to  India,  in  Rutgers  College  Chapel,  June  20, 
1886. 

5  Rev.  William  H.  Campbell,  D.  D.,  LL.  D, 
218 


The  Weaving  of  India  Rugs 

Twenty-seven  years  of  blessed  service  for  the 
Master!  How  packed  with  labours  and  with 
joys!  For,  in  looking  back  over  these  years  of 
missionary  service,  it  is  not  the  hardships  and 
trials,  but  the  blessings  and  joys  that  fill  my 
vision,  and  to  this  blessed  heritage  of  service  for 
the  Master  do  I  now  bid  you  welcome  with  un- 
feigned gladness. 

And  what  should  be  the  spirit  with  which  you 
enter  upon  this  life  service  for  Christ  in  India  ? 
What  should  be  your  highest  aspiration  ?  What 
shall  give  you  your  surest  success,  your  suprem- 
est  joy  in  that  work  ? 

I  desire  to  place  before  you  in  this  solemn 
hour  as  at  once  your  highest  aim  and  your  most 
potent  weapon,  "Personal  Conformity  to  the 
Image  of  Christ." 

Paul  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans,  de- 
clares that  we  are  called  of  God  "to  be  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  His  Son,"  and  he  speaks 
of  this  as  a  growing  conformity,  as  in  the  third 
chapter  of  Second  Corinthians,  where  he  says, 
"We  are  changed  into  the  same  image  from 
glory  to  glory."  And  the  beloved  John  tells  us 
what  shall  be  the  consummation,  when  he  says 
in  his  First  Epistle,  third  chapter,  "When  He 
shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  Him." 

219 


The  Cobra's  Den 


This  becoming  conformed  to  the  image  of 
Christ  is  a  gradual  process.  The  change  begins 
with  regeneration.  That  is  indeed  instantaneous. 
It  is  then  that  the  germ  of  conformity  to  the  im- 
age of  Christ  is  implanted,  but  unless  it  grows  it 
remains  but  a  germ.  Regeneration  is  instanta- 
neous. Sanctification  is  progressive.  And  as  we 
grow  in  the  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  we  grow  into  con- 
formity to  His  image. 

For  this  growth  in  conformity  to  His  image 
the  continual  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  absolutely 
necessary,  but  it  also  requires  persistent  and 
earnest  personal  effort  on  the  part  of  the  be- 
liever, and  to  such  effort  after  personal  conform- 
ity to  the  image  of  Christ,  would  I  now  seek  to 
incite  you  more  and  more,  as  you  enter  upon 
your  life  of  service  for  Him. 

Such  growth  into  Christ's  pattern  is  not  easy 
work.  It  is  not,  with  most  of  us,  an  uninter- 
rupted growth.  There  is  sometimes  even  retro- 
gression, and  we  become  disheartened,  and 
think  we  can  never  attain,  and  are  almost  ready 
to  give  up  trying. 

I  have  thought  of  this  struggle  to  imitate  the 
Divine  pattern  as  I  have  stood  watching  the  slow 
weaving  of  those  beautiful  India  rugs  which, 

220 


The  Weaving  of  India  Rugs 

when  completed,  are  so  much  sought  after  and 
so  highly  prized. 

India  rugs  are  all  the  product  of  painstaking, 
long  continued  hand  labour,  requiring  closest 
watchfulness  at  every  step,  lest  the  figure  be 
not  perfect.  I  have  often  stood  watching  the 
workmen  and  thinking  of  God  s  plan  in  our 
lives. 

The  rug,  however  large  it  be,  is  woven  in  one 
piece.  The  warp  is  stretched  vertically  upon  the 
simple  loom.  There  is  no  shuttle.  There  is  no 
beam.  The  weaver  sits  or  stands  facing  the  per- 
pendicular warp.  The  only  light  in  the  room  is 
from  a  window  behind  the  weaver,  shining  over 
his  shoulders  full  upon  the  growing  rug  before 
him.  With  deft  fingers  he  runs  in  the  different 
coloured  woolen  yarns  into  the  warp  in  front  of 
him,  and,  with  a  heavy  wooden  comb,  combs  it 
down  to  its  place,  and  with  hand-shears  clips  off  the 
too  long  protruding  yarn.  As  you  stand  behind 
his  back,  and  at  one  side  out  of  his  light,  watching 
him,  he  goes  on,  apparently  forgetful  of  your 
presence,  chanting  to  himself  from  memory  the 
pattern  he  is  weaving  in  as  he  swiftly  inserts  the 
threads,  "six  black,  three  brown,  five  red,  seven 
white,"  and  so  on,  as  the  hours  go  by.  Now  and 
then,  as  he  completes  a  figure,  or  part  of  one,  he 

221 


The  Cobra's  Den 


steps  back  to  take  a  look  and  see  if  it  is  perfect  ; 
but,  alas,  he  has  made  a  slip. 

Some  inches  down,  where  he  has  not  been 
giving  due  heed,  his  pattern  is  marred.  Heaving 
a  sigh,  he  again  takes  his  place,  and  laboriously 
takes  out  the  last  half  hour's,  or  last  half  day's 
work,  and  more  carefully  builds  it  over,  for  it 
must  be  perfect  or  it  will  not  be  accepted. 

I  have  looked  in  one  day  and  the  rug  seemed 
progressing  finely,  but  the  next  there  seemed  to 
have  been  absolutely  retrogression,  so  much  had 
been  taken  out  to  remedy  a  just  discovered  de- 
fect ;  but  it  goes  on  to  final  completion. 

I  have  myself  seen  one  rug  six  months  upon  the 
same  loom,  and  the  weavers  had  been  working 
upon  it  day  by  day,  and  all  day  long.  Orders 
were  on  hand  that  would  take  them  two  full 
years  to  fill,  but  the  process  could  not  be  hurried, 
or  defects  were  sure  to  creep  in. 

Sometimes,  as  you  looked  in,  you  would  see 
something  out  of  harmony  ;  you  could  not  tell 
what  it  was,  but  felt  that  something  was  wrong. 
The  weaver,  too,  had  discovered  it ;  he  carefully 
studies  his  pattern,  finds  where  he  has  gone  wrong, 
toilsomely  remedies  the  defect,  and  as  you  step 
in  again,  the  want  of  harmony  has  disappeared, 
and  the  perfect  figure  greets  your  gratified  view. 

222 


The  Weaving  of  India  Rugs 

May  not  this  be  talcen  as  an  illustration  of  God's 
pattern  being  interwoven  into  our  lives  ? 

The  pattern  is  glorious  ;  is  perfect.  But  in 
weaving  it  into  our  lives  what  sad  mistakes  we 
sometimes  make  ;  how  much  we  have  to  undo  of 
what  we  have  carelessly  done.  How  often  we 
find  something  that  is  out  of  harmony  with  God's 
plan,  and  yet  the  peculiar  defect  of  which  at  first 
eludes  our  search.  But  as  we  study  more  closely 
the  Divine  image  we  see  at  last,  by  the  illuminat- 
ing influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  where  the  defect 
is,  and  heaving  a  sigh  and  seeking  more  light 
from  over  our  shoulders,  we  at  last  weave  in 
the  pattern  as  God  intended  it.  And  at  length, 
under  the  guiding  eye  of  the  Master  Workman, 
our  life  pattern  is  "complete  in  Him." 

French  imitations  of  these  India  rugs  are  now 
thrown  on  the  market  by  the  hundred.  They  are 
machine  woven.  The  patterns  are  indeed  exact. 
There  is  no  distortion  in  any  figure,  but  it  is 
machine  perfection.  The  rugs  cannot  compare 
in  richness  and  life  with  the  laboriously  hand- 
made rugs  of  India,  and  no  one  who  knows  the 
true  India  rug  will  fail  to  note  the  difference,  and 
though  produced  at  one-fourth  the  cost,  and  sold 
for  one-fourth  the  price,  the  demand  is  still  for 
the  more  expensive  handmade  genuine  India  rugs. 

223 


The  Cobra's  Den 


There  is  no  machinery  for  producing  God's 
pattern  in  our  lives,  for  producing  "conformity 
to  the  image  of  His  Son."  It  is  a  slow,  laborious 
hand-work,  to  be  done  by  each  believer  as  he 
watchfully  follows  the  Divine  guidance  in  his 
life.  But  when  this  is  accomplished  how  glori- 
ous the  result,  for  "when  He  shall  appear  we 
shall  be  like  Him." 

Let  this,  then,  be  your  highest  aim,  your  daily 
study,  your  hourly  effort,  as  you  enter  upon  your 
chosen  life's  work,  and  as  you  join  hands  with 
your  Jesus  in  the  completion  of  the  work  for 
which  He  gave  His  life — even  the  salvation  of 
the  whole  race  of  man,  imitate  your  Master.  Do 
day  by  day  as  He  would  have  you  do  ;  as  He 
would  do  in  your  circumstances,  and  the  result 
in  your  own  life  pattern,  and  in  the  conversion  of 
those  for  whom  you  labour,  will  be  glorious. 

Waste  no  time  in  vain  regrets  over  past  fail- 
ures, or  newly  discovered  faults  in  the  weaving 
of  your  life  pattern  ;  but  in  humility  asking  God's 
free  pardon  for  the  errors  of  the  past,  say  with 
the  Apostle  Paul,  "  This  one  thing  I  do.  Forget- 
ting those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching 
forth  unto  those  things  that  are  before,  I  press 
toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus." 

224 


The  Weaving  of  India  Rugs 

To-day  there  has  sprung  up  a  new  relationship 
between  us.  For  nearly  twenty-four  years  have 
we  been  related  as  father  and  son.  Now  I 
gladly  welcome  you  as  a  brother-minister  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  natural  tie  ';an  never 
lessen;  but  let  the  new  spiritual  tie  grow  stronger 
and  more  all-controlling,  as  the  Master  allows  us 
to  be  comrades  in  His  glorious  war,  and  brother- 
ministers  of  the  New  Covenant  in  that  distant 
land,  where,  God  willing,  our  lives  are  to  be  to- 
gether offered  to  Him  who  has  bought  us  with 
His  own  precious  blood. 

Yet  bear  with  me  while  I  reiterate  to  you  the 
words  which  Paul  the  aged  used  as  he  exhorted 
his  younger  brother  in  the  ministry,  his  son  in 
the  faith,  Timothy,  when  he  said: 

"Thou,  therefore,  my  son,  be  strong  in  the 
grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  "Endure  hard- 
ness, as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ."  "  Watch 
thou  in  all  things.  Endure  afflictions.  Do  the 
work  of  an  Evangelist.  Make  full  proof  of  thy 
ministry." 

For  then  will  you  be  able  to  join  in  Paul's 
triumphant  shout  of  victory:  "I  have  fought 
a  good  fight.  I  have  finished  my  course.  I 
have  kept  the  faith.  Henceforth  there  is  laid 
up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness  which  the 

225 


The  Cobra's  Den 

Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give  me  at  that 
day." 

My  son,  my  brother,  I  welcome  you  to  the 
glorious  fellowship  of  the  missionary  of  the  Cross 
of  Christ  Jesus,  our  Lord. 


226 


XXIII 


"DESPONDENT  MISSIONARIES" 

An  hour  ago  the  overland  mail  came  in.  I 
took  up  one  of  our  Home  Religious  Periodicals, 
one  that  is  usually  well  informed  on  all  missionary 
matters,  and  that  is  thoroughly  sympathetic  with 
missions  and  with  missionaries.  In  an  article  on 
the  very  first  page,  it  makes  use  of  the  expres- 
sion, "Our  faithful,  but  now  desponding  mis- 
sionaries abroad." 

I  laid  down  the  paper,  wiped  my  glasses,  and 
looked  again,  to  see  if  1  could  have  read  it  right. 
Yes,  there  it  was,  "desponding  missionaries." 
Where  are  they  ?  Perhaps  there  are  such,  but  I 
do  not  know  them.  Yes,  there  must  be,  for 
there  it  stands  in  that  well  informed  Periodical. 
Again  1  laid  down  the  paper  and  began  to  think 
and  question.  Where  are  those  "despondent 
missionaries"  ? 

1  have  not  seen  them.  But  then  I  have  not  had 
much  chance.  It  is  only  four  and  a  half  months 
since  I  came  back  to  India,  after  a  somewhat  pro- 
longed absence  in  America,  and  things  may  have 
changed;  I  must  make  inquiries. 

227 


The  Cobra's  Den 


I  saw  a  number  of  missionaries  in  Bombay,  to 
be  sure,  when  I  landed,  but  my  time  was  short, 
and  they  had  only  time  to  tell  me  of  victories 
recently  won;  of  new  campaigns  on  which  they 
were  just  entering  for  further  conquests,  and 
their  faces  were  radiant,  not  despondent,  as  they 
spoke.    But  perhaps  I  misjudged  them. 

On  the  second  afternoon  of  our  railway  journey 
from  Bombay  to  Madras,  at  a  junction  we  were 
joined  by  a  large  party  of  missionaries  just  going 
to  their  annual  meeting.  They  had  closed  the 
work  of  the  year,  tabulated  their  gains,  written 
their  reports.  Seven  of  them  were  old  personal 
friends,  whom  1  had  known  as  fellow-fighters  for 
from  fifteen  to  twenty-seven  years.  If  they  were 
despondent,  they  concealed  it  well.  For  two 
hours  we  had  a  compartment  to  ourselves,  as 
they  told  me  of  victories  scored,  and  obstacles 
overcome,  since  we  last  met,  and  of  the  grand 
openings  for  further  fighting  in  the  coming  year. 

Just  one  week  from  that  day  I  was  in  council 
with  the  missionaries  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 
America,  at  our  annual  meeting  at  Vellore.  Tales 
of  more  organised  opposition,  of  increasing  ob- 
stacles I  did  hear,  but  not  of  yielding  to  the  op- 
position, nor  of  succumbing  to  the  obstacles. 
The  whole  thought  seemed  to  be,  how  shall  we 

228 


"  Despondent  Missionaries  " 

best  organise  our  forces  so  as  not  only  to  hold 
our  own  but  make  larger  conquests  in  the  year 
to  come. 

And  when,  a  few  weeks  later,  we  and  our 
native  brethren  gathered  at  Palmaner  to  inaugurate 
our  new  Theological  College,  for  the  Endowment 
of  which  1  had  been  able  to  secure  during  my 
last  six  months  in  America,  gifts  aggregating 
nearly  sixty  thousand  dollars,  that  we  might  be 
able  the  more  thoroughly  to  train  a  more  earnest, 
better  equipped  body  of  soldiers  for  the  deepen- 
ing conflict,  the  jubilant  shouts  of  joy,  thanks- 
giving, hope  and  courage  for  this  new  leverage 
for  more  aggressive  warfare,  could  not  have  been 
mistaken  by  even  the  most  bilious  dyspeptic,  for 
moans  of  despondency.  It  was  rather  the  "  Mar- 
seillaise "  of  the  coming  liberation  in  the  name  of 
Christ. 

From  there  by  previous  invitation,  I  went  to 
Madras  to  meet  the  "Madras  Missionary  Con- 
ference" composed  of  some  seventy  missionaries 
of  all  societies,  English,  Irish,  Scotch,  Germans, 
Danes,  Americans,  Hindus,  to  tell  them  of  the 
proposed  movement  on  the  part  of  the  Y.  M.  C. 
A.'s  of  America  for  organising  a  work  for  the 
millions  of  young  Hindus  who  know  not  God. 
I  was  at  their  preliminary  business  meeting. 

229 

I 


The  Cobra's  Den 


There  was  no  whining  over  defeat,  but  vigorous 
plans  for  further  assault.  I  was  with  them 
through  the  hour  of  social  intercourse,  and  the 
sparkling  eye  and  earnest  utterance,  as  one  after 
another  told  me  of  contests  and  campaigns  and 
battles  and  victories  while  I  had  been  away,  had 
not  the  flavour  of  despondency.  Nor  did  the 
wrapt  attention,  and  frequently  manifested  ap- 
proval during  my  forty  minutes'  address  on  "Our 
God  Given  Opportunity  now  in  India,  and  How 
to  Turn  it  to  Victory,"  by  organising  an  army  of 
young  men  to  work  with  and  for  young  men, 
with  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  methods, 
nor  the  enthusiastic  speeches  that  followed  mine, 
indicate  a  despondent  frame  of  mind. 

It  was  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  meetings  I 
have  attended  in  India,  and  enthusiasm  is  not 
born  of  despondency.  The  greatness  of  the  ob- 
stacles now  before  us  was  clearly  recognised;  the 
marshalling  of  the  enemy's  forces  as  never  before; 
the  new  forms  of  more  vigorous  opposition;  the 
crisis  now  upon  us;  each  was  distinctly  seen,  but 
"  By  God's  help  we  will  win  the  victory,"  seemed 
the  prevalent  thought  in  each  mind. 

"Despondent  missionaries!"  Well,  yes,  we 
might  possibly  be  despondent  if  we  had  time  to 
sit  and  think  and  brood  over  the  fewness  of  the 

230 


"  Despondent  Missionaries  " 

recruits,  and  the  smallness  of  the  supplies,  and 
the  leanness  of  the  Home  Treasuries.  But  we 
have  no  time  for  that.  If  the  recruits  be  few,  we 
must  each  be  up  and  do  the  more.  If  the  sup- 
plies of  funds  be  inadequate  we  must  try  the 
harder  to  make  $io  do  the  work  of  $20.  We  have 
no  time  to  look  down.  We  have  to  look  up,  and 
we  see  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son  and  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  all  pledged  for,  and  working  for  the 
victory;  and  the  victory  will  come. 

No!  I  have  not  found  the  "despondent  mis- 
sionary." If  there  be  one  I  would  be  glad  to 
hear  from  him.  I  should  like  to  know  him,  and  to 
ask  him  why  he  desponds.  And  besides,  a  well- 
marked  exception  always  strengthens  the  rule. 

But  with  deep  solicitude  we  missionaries  do  look 
upon  our  loved  churches  at  home,  and  a  dread 
comes  over  us  sometimes,  when  we  think  of  the 
many  in  the  home  churches  who  do  nothing  to 
help  forward  this  mighty  battle  for  victory,  and 
we  almost  fear  that  the  Divine  flat  may  go  forth, 
with  reference  to  some  of  them,  "  For  if  thou  al- 
together boldest  thy  peace  at  this  time,  then  shall 
there  enlargement  and  deliverance  arise  from  an- 
other place;  but  thou  and  thy  father's  house  shall 
be  destroyed;  and  who  knoweth  whether  thou 
art  come  to  the  kingdom  for  such  a  time  as  this." 

231 


XXIV 


THE  CHANGE  OF  FRONT  IN  5NDIA 

A  GENERATION  has  fully  passed  since  the  writer, 
in  1859,  joined  the  ranks  of  those  attempting  the 
conquest  of  India  for  Christ.  How  different  the 
condition  and  the  outlook  then  and  now!  Then 
India  was  just  emerging  from  the  troublous  and 
turbulent  times  of  the  great  Sepoy  Rebellion. 
The  sway  of  the  East  India  Company,  which  had 
been  growing,  for  some  two  centuries,  had  re- 
cently been  merged  into  the  rule  of  Great  Britain's 
queen,  and  religious  toleration  had  been  pro- 
claimed throughout  her  dominions.  Then  the 
first  200  miles  of  railway  had  just  been  opened ; 
now  some  20,000  miles  run  through  all  the  prov- 
inces. Then  western  education  was  in  its  in- 
fancy; now  1 5,000,000  of  the  educated  classes  all 
through  the  land,  but  chiefly  in  the  large  cities, 
freely  use  the  English  language,  and  are  more  or 
less  well  up  in  western  science  and  western 
thought,  the  vernaculars,  however,  still  retaining 
undisputed  sway  in  the  households  of  all. 

Then  Hinduism  was  as  firmly  seated  on  its 
throne  as  it  had  been  at  any  time  since  the  days 

232 


The  Change  of  Front  in  India 

of  Moses.  It  had,  indeed,  passed  through  a  slow 
process  of  modification,  of  deterioration.  The 
essential  monotheism  of  the  Vedas  of  Moses'  age 
had  degenerated  into  the  polytheism  of  the  Shas- 
tras  and  Pur^nas,  and  farther,  into  the  gross 
forms  of  idolatry  of  the  later  period,  with  its 
330,000,000  of  deities,  named  and  unnamed.  The 
system  of  caste,  invented  long  after  the  Vedic 
period,  and  gradually  imposed  upon  the  people, 
binding  them  hand  and  foot,  and  preventing  all 
genuine  progress,  still  manifested  all  its  power, 
and  one  would  sooner  die  than  break  caste  rules, 
and  lose  his  caste  and  so  his  soul. 

Then  Hindus  thoroughly  believed  and  upheld 
and  practiced  their  religion.  Then  Benares,  Tir- 
upati,  Sri  Rangam,  Rameshwaram,  and  the  host 
of  holy  places  were  monthly  thronged  with  their 
scores  of  thousands,  and  in  their  yearly  festivals, 
by  their  hundred  thousand  pilgrims,  and  on  all 
the  roadways  you  would  meet  the  returning  pil- 
grims with  two  brass  pots  hanging  from  their 
hdvadi,  or  neck-yoke,  filled  with  holy  water  at 
the  Ganges,  and  replenished  at  each  of  the  sacred 
streams  as  they  wearily  walked  their  thousands 
of  miles  to  their  distant  homes.  Then  they  be- 
lieved in  the  efficacy  of  these  pilgrimages  and 
penances  and  tortures. 

233 


The  Cobra's  Den 


In  February,  1861,  1  met  a  venerable  Brahman 
pilgrim  who  told  me  of  his  sixty  years  of  pil- 
grimages— of  twice  ten  thousand  miles — to  every 
sacred  shrine  in  India,  all  made  on  foot,  and  beg- 
ging his  food  by  the  way.  "And  yet,"  said  he 
sadly  and  with  disappointment — "and  yet,  the 
burden  of  sin  is  just  as  heavy  as  when  a  young 
man,  I  started  on  this  quest.  Oh,  sir,  does  your 
Veda  tell  how  I  can  get  rid  of  this  burden  of  sin, 
and  be  at  peace  with  God?"  One  sees  no  such 
pilgrims  now. 

Then  hook-swinging  and  spike-walking  and 
self-torture  and  immolation  were  real  verities. 
Yearly  the  shrine  of  Juggernaut  saw  its  throngs 
of  100,000  devotees,  from  hundreds  or  thousands 
of  miles  of  toilsome  pilgrimage,  and  thousands 
gripped  the  long  cables  dragging  the  ponderous 
car  of  Juggernaut,  while  devotees  were  throw- 
ing themselves  beneath  its  wheels. 

Now,  all  is  changed.  Britain's  sway,  indeed, 
has  put  a  stop  to  torture  and  immolation,  but  the 
waning  faith  of  the  people  in  their  religion  has 
been  putting  a  more  effective  quietus  to  the  an- 
cient order  of  things,  until  recently  Juggernaut's 
priests  issued  the  dismal  wail  that  not  enough 
pilgrims  came  to  pull  the  car  around  its  annual 
outing,  and  scarce  were  they  able,  with  all  the 

234 


rhe  Change  of  Front  in  India 

coolies  they  could  hire,  to  move  it  back  to  its 
home. 

The  throngs  of  devout  worshippers,  making 
toilsome  journeys,  with  costly  gifts,  have  ceased. 
Lessening  multitudes  now  go,  indeed,  but  by 
train,  with  more  or  less  comfort,  to  many  of  the 
shrines,  and  perfunctorily  engage  in  some  of  the 
less  irksome  ceremonies,  but  little  or  none  of  the 
religious  spirit  is  seen. 

Then  the  rich  endowments  of  the  temples 
were  yearly  increased  by  the  liberal  gifts  of 
those  who  believed  they  could  thus  buy  release 
from  sin.  Now  myriads  of  temples  are  slowly 
going  to  ruin,  and  a  wail  comes  up  from  the 
priests  of  the  most  noted  shrines  at  the  smallness 
of  the  offerings,  while  the  people  are  openly  ac- 
cusing the  priests  of  squandering  in  voluptuous 
licentiousness  the  revenues  from  the  endowments 
of  the  pious  dead. 

But  let  us  note  Hindu  testimony  on  this 
point. 

One  hundred  of  the  chief  residents  of  Tirupati, 
the  most  noted  shrine  of  southern  India,  signed 
and  sent  a  memorial  to  the  Viceroy  of  India,  in 
May,  1894,  calling  his  attention  to  the  desperate 
condition  of  Hindu  religious  endowments  in 
general  and  of  those  of  Tirupati  in  particular: 

235 


The  Cobra's  Den 


and  praying  that  government  would  provide 
more  efficient  means  of  safeguarding  the  interests 
of  such  endowments. 

The  Daily  Hindu,  one  of  the  strongest  native 
papers  in  India,  the  organ  of  all  the  orthodox 
Hindus  of  Madras,  published  the  memorial  and 
thus  commented  upon  it: 

"We  may  well  feel  shocked  at  the  true  yet 
wondrous  tales  of  huge  frauds  and  heinous 
crimes  which  the  memorialists  have  catalogued. 
The  glory  has  departed  out  of  our  religious  insti- 
tutions, and  what  once  contributed  to  purify  the 
minds  of  millions  of  men  and  women  are  now 
the  grovelling  ground  of  some  of  the  most  ig- 
norant and  wretched  of  human  beings, — who 
merely  wallow  in  a  mire  of  voluptuous  pastimes, 
wasting  the  pious  contributions  of  the  widow 
and  orphan,  and  breeding  around  them  a  whole 
host  of  idle,  able-bodied  vagabonds.  The  vast 
majority  of  these  endowments  are  corrupt  to  the 
core.  They  are  a  festering  mass  of  crime  and 
vice  and  gigantic  swindling." 

What  a  change  of  front  since  the  leaders  of 
Hindu  thought  were  the  ardent  supporters  and 
rich  benefactors  of  these  very  temples! 

The  Reis  and  Rayyet,  an  influential  Calcutta 
orthodox  Hindu  paper,  sneers  at  Mrs.  Besant's 

236 


The  Change  of  Front  in  India 

ecstasies  over  the  beauties  of  Hinduism,  and 
justly  says: 

"When  an  English  lady  of  decent  culture,  pro- 
fesses to  be  an  admirer  of  Tantric  mysticism  and 
Krishna  worship,  it  behoves  every  well-wisher 
of  the  country  to  tell  her  plainly  that  sensible 
men  do  not  want  her  eloquence  for  gilding  what 
is  rotten.    .   .  . 

"If  the  Upanishads,  (Commentaries  on  the 
Vedas,  etc.,)  have  a  charm  for  Mrs.  Besant,  she 
is  quite  welcome  to  proclaim  her  views  on  the 
subject.  But  the  Upanishads  do  not  form  any 
part  of  the  religion  of  the  Hindus  as  it  is  found 
in  their  everyday  life.  In  actual  practice  they 
are  either  Sivites  or  Saktas  or  Krishna  worship- 
pers. In  fact,  abomination  worship  is  the  main 
ingredient  of  modern  Hinduism,  and  we  there- 
fore ask  Mrs.  Besant  to  study  the  subject  a  little 
more  carefully  than  she  yet  appears  to  have  done. 
If  she  will  follow  our  advice,  she  may,  provided 
she  is  sincere  herself,  sooner  or  later,  admit  that 
the  course  she  is  now  pursuing  is  fraught  with 
mischief." 

Of  the  Brahmanic  priesthood  in  India  at  the 
present  day,  The  Hindu,  the  representative  native 
newspaper,  before  referred  to,  speaks  in  these 
scorching  words  : 

237 


The  Cobra's  Den 


"Profoundly  ignorant  as  a  class,  and  infinitely 
selfish,  it  is  the  mainstay  of  every  unholy,  im- 
moral and  cruel  custom  and  superstition  in  our 
midst,  from  the  wretched  dancing  girl,  who  in- 
sults the  deity  by  her  existence,  to  the  pining 
child-widow,  whose  every  tear,  and  every  hair 
of  whose  head  shall  stand  up  against  every  one 
of  us  who  tolerate  it,  on  the  Day  of  Judgment. 
Of  such  a  priestly  class  our  women  are  the  igno- 
rant tools  and  dupes." 

It  seems  now  to  be  the  profound  conviction  of 
all  thoughtful  Hindus  that  Hinduism  as  it  now 
exists,  as  it  was  when  Christian  missions  began 
their  campaign  in  India,  as  it  has  been  for  the 
last  two  thousand  years,  must  go. 

The  stanch,  orthodox  Brahman  editor  of  a 
vernacular  newspaper  is  quoted  by  The  Mission- 
ary, London,  as  taking  this  gloomy  view  of  the 
situation: 

"We  entertain  no  more  any  hope  for  that  re- 
ligion which  we  consider  dearer  than  our  life. 
Hinduism  is  now  on  its  deathbed  and  unfortu- 
nately there  is  no  drug  which  can  safely  be  ad- 
ministered to  it  for  its  recovery.  There  are  na- 
tive Christians  nowadays  who  have  declared  a 
terrible  crusade  against  the  entire  fabric  of  Hindu- 
ism, and  many  men  of  splendid  education  are 

238 


The  Change  of  Front  in  India 

also  coming  forth,  even  from  our  own  commu- 
nity, [Brahmans]  who  have  already  expressed  a 
desire  to  accept  Christianity,  and  should  these 
gentlemen  really  become  first  Christians  and  then 
its  preachers,  they  will  give  the  last  deathblow 
to  Mother  Hinduism.  This  terrible  crusade  is 
now  carried  on  by  Christians  with  a  tenacity  of 
purpose  and  devotion  which  in  themselves  defy 
failure." 

But  while  all  thoughtful  Hindus  seem  to  agree 
that  Hinduism,  in  its  modern  form  at  least,  must 
go,  they  are  not  by  any  means  agreed  as  to  what 
shall  take  its  place.  All  agree  in  fighting  ag- 
gressive Christianity.  They  have  even  borrowed 
Christian  tactics  and  have  formed,  in  many  cities 
of  India,  "  Hindu  Tract  and  Preaching  Societies," 
and  are  issuing  millions  of  pages  of  tracts,  at- 
tacking Christianity,  and  scattering  them  broad- 
cast. Some  of  them  are  of  a  most  blasphemous 
character,  and  filled  with  grossest  falsehood. 
Others  are  simply  designed  to  arouse  Hindus  to 
a  sense  of  their  danger.  One  of  these,  as  trans- 
lated from  Tamil  by  Dr.  J.  W.  Scudder,  makes 
use  of  the  following  language,  a  singular  admis- 
sion for  enemies  to  make: 

"  How  many  thousands  of  thousands  have 
these  missionaries  turned  to  Christianity!  On 

239 


The  Cobra's  Den 


how  many  more  have  they  cast  their  nets!  If 
we  sleep,  as  heretofore,  in  a  short  time  they  will 
turn  all  to  Christianity  without  exception,  and 
our  temples  will  be  changed  into  churches.  Is 
there  no  learned  Pandit  to  be  secured  for  money 
who  will  crush  the  Christians  ? 

"  Do  you  not  know  that  the  number  of  Chris- 
tians is  increasing,  and  the  number  of  Hindu  re- 
ligionists decreasing  every  day  ?  How  long  will 
water  remain  in  a  reservoir  which  continually 
lets  out  but  receives  none  in  ?  Let  all  the  people 
join  as  one  man  to  banish  Christianity  from  our 
land." 

There  are  three  distinct  trends  of  thought  on 
the  part  of  those  who  unitedly  oppose  aggressive 
Christianity. 

One  party  seeks  to  resuscitate  Vedic  Hinduism ; 
to  purge  modern  Hinduism  of  all  its  undesirable 
later  accretions,  and  restore  it  to  its  pristine 
purity.  But  no  two  agree  as  to  what  its  "Un- 
desirable accretions"  are,  nor  as  to  what  the 
"Pristine  purity"  should  consist  in.  Some  say 
it  must  be  monotheistic,  and  without  caste  dis- 
tinctions. Others  wish  to  retain  a  few  of  the 
more  popular  gods,  and  to  keep  up  caste  dis- 
tinctions. There  seems  at  present  no  prospect 
of  an  agreement  as  to  what  this  "Revival  of 

240 


The  Change  of  Front  in  India 

Hinduism  "  should  consist  in,  though  there  are 
multitudes  of  preachers  of  such  a  revival.  What 
will  be  the  outcome  of  this  no  one  can  say. 

The  second  trend  is  toward  the  acceptance  of 
a  Christianity  without  Christ, — that  is,  the  ac- 
cepting of  Christ's  teachings  as  a  system  of 
morality,  without  accepting  the  name  of  Chris- 
tians, and  without  admitting  Christ  to  be  Divine. 

The  Indian  Social  Reformer,  edited  by  non- 
Christian  Hindus,  in  a  notice  of  the  American 
Arcot  Mission's  report  for  1894,  makes  this 
evident,  as  in  the  following  extract: 

"Why  does  not  Christianity  progress?  The 
situation  at  present  admits  the  report,  is  '  unpleas- 
ant and  disheartening,'  to  the  missionary.  Why  ? 
The  reason  to  our  minds  is  this;  the  ordinary  mis- 
sionary attaches  more  value  to  the  name  than  to 
the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  judges  of  his  labours  by  the 
number  of  his  [avowed]  converts.  The  true 
Christian  spirit,  which  is  also  the  true  spirit  of  all 
faith,  is  making  way.  Is  it  so  very  difficult  for 
our  missionary  friends  to  see  that  the  mind  which 
revolts  from  the  dogmas  and  extravagances  of 
Hinduism  will  not  accept  those  of  Christianity? 
That  the  man  who  rejects  the  theory  of  the  in- 
carnation of  Rama  would  not  believe  in  that  of 

Christ  ?   No,  no.    Emancipation  is  once  for  all. 
241 


The  Cobra's  Den 


A  godlike  man  is  still  a  man  and  not  God.  There 
is  our  difference  with  our  Christian  brother  in  a 
nutshell. 

"We  concede  that  Christ  is  one  of  the  most  per- 
fect, the  noblest  of  men.  We  read  the  Bible  and 
listen  awe-struck  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
and  pass  on  to  the  soul-stirring  sacrifice  on  Cal- 
vary. Does  it  move  us  one  whit  less — this  im- 
mortal heroism — that  we  believe  that  the  hero 
was  a  man  ?   And  why  do  you  want  more  ?" 

A  few  would  go  still  further  in  their  admis- 
sion, and,  in  their  willingness  to  borrow  from 
Christianity,  even  professing  to  believe  in  the  in- 
carnation of  Christ,  but,  with  the  same  breath, 
declaring  that  they  believe  Buddha  and  Zoroaster 
to  be  incarnations  of  the  deity. 

The  Amrita  Bazaar  Patrika,  a  stubbornly 
orthodox  Hindu  newspaper  of  North  India,  in  an 
editorial  has  these  words: 

"There  is  scarcely  an  educated  man  in  India 
who  has  not  read  the  Bible.  It  is  impossible  for 
a  Hindu  not  to  feel  a  profound  respect  for  the 
Bible.  The  real  fact  is  that  every  true  Hindu  is  a 
believer  in  Christ  also.  There  is  not  a  true 
Hindu  all  over  India  who  does  no  believe  in  the 
Avatar,  [Incarnation]  of  Christ.  Indeed,  in  the 
matter  of  devotion  to  Christ,  the  Hindus  and 

242 


The  Change  of  Front  in  India 

Christians  are  on  a  perfectly  equal  level.  There 
cannot  be  the  least  objection  on  the  part  of  a 
Hindu  to  pray,  'Save  me,  Father,  for  the  sake 
of  Jesus  Christ.' " 

They  would  simply  add  Christ,  with  His  inimi- 
table life  and  teachings  to  their  pantheon,  but  re- 
main Hindus  or  non-Christians  all  the  same.  To 
this  end,  "The  Arjya  Literary  Society  in  Cal- 
cutta, composed  of  non-Christian  Bengali  gentle- 
men "  we  are  told,  "are  now  engaged  in 
translating  the  Bible  into  classical  Bengali.  They 
have  asked  and  obtained  the  assistance  of  rep- 
resentative men  of  the  Christian  communities, 
lest  anything  should  appear  in  the  translation 
which  should  make  it  anti-Christian  in  tone." 

The  third  distinct  trend  is  toward  agnosticism ; 
and  this  I  regard  as  the  most  portentous  trend  of 
all,  for  it  exists  not  only  among  those  who 
openly  so  avow  themselves,  but  untold  numbers 
who,  for  social  reasons,  ally  themselves  with 
some  one  of  the  other  parties,  have  really  thrown 
themselves  into  blank  and  cheerless  agnosticism, 
and  the  number  is  increasing  faster  than  we 
know. 

There  is,  however,  in  spite  of  all  the  above 
mentioned  opposition,  an  unquestionable  under- 
current tending  toward  evangelical  Christianity. 

243 


The  Cobra's  Den 


There  came  to  me  secretly  in  my  tent,  when  out 
upon  a  tour,  a  native  gentleman  high  in  office,  in 
caste,  in  social  position,  of  whom  1  have  spoken 
at  length  in  preceding  chapters,  wishing  to  have 
a  private  conversation  with  me  on  the  claims  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
After  a  somewhat  extended  conversation  he  said 
to  me,  in  substance: 

"Sir,  I  am  not  a  Christian.  I  am  still  regarded 
as  a  devout  Hindu.  I  still  perform  enough 
Hindu  ceremonies  to  avoid  suspicion,  but  in  my 
heart  I  dare  not  deny  the  claims  of  the  Bible.  I 
see  the.  power  of  Jesus  Christ  hi  the  lives  of  His 
followers  so  distinctly  that  I  cannot  deny  His 
Divinity.  He  must  be  Divine  or  He  could  not 
work  such  a  change  in  the  lives  of  those  who 
become  His  disciples.  He  is  not  yet  my  Saviour. 
Caste,  wealth,  position,  family  all  hold  me  back; 
but  even  now  1  never  allow  Him  to  be  spoken 
against  in  my  presence.  I  have  long  been  read- 
ing the  Bible  in  secret.  The  more  I  read  of 
Christ  and  ponder  over  His  life  and  teachings,  and 
the  power  to  conquer  sin,  which  comes  from 
embracing  His  religion,  the  more  do  1  feel  that  in 
the  end  I  shall  have  to  accept  Him  at  any  cost,  as 
my  personal  Saviour;  but  how  can  I  do  it  now 
and  bring  ruin  upon  my  family  ?" 

244 


The  Change  of  Front  in  India 

There  are  more  such  than  we  have  any  idea 
of.  The  surface  currents  so  often  fail  to  tell 
what  the  deep-sea  movements  are. 

Sir  Charles  Elliott,  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
Bengal,  for  thirty  years  a  close  observer  of  mis- 
sionary activities  and  missionary  problems  in 
many  provinces  in  India,  said  in  a  public  ad- 
dress: 

"There  is  unquestionably  an  undercurrent 
working  among  the  higher  classes  in  India  to- 
ward Christianity,  in  spite  of  all  the  open  mani- 
festations against  it,  and  we  may  look  forward 
with  confident  expectation  to  the  day  when  all 
India  shall  bow  at  the  feet  of  Christ,  who  alone 
can  uplift,  purify  and  save." 

This  changed  front,  then  gives  royal  vantage 
ground  to  work  for  India's  redemption.  The 
old  apathy;  the  supercilious  indifference;  the  old 
silent,  but  dogged  resistance;  the  old  conviction 
that  naught  could  shake  Hinduism's  firm  founda- 
tions, has  passed  away,  and  passed  never  to  re- 
turn. Religious  thought  in  India  is  drifting 
hither  and  yon.  The  time  to  rally  all  Christ's 
forces  has  come.  Let  earnestness  of  effort  and 
persistence  in  prayer  bring  out  and  energise 
these  secret  half-disciples.  The  currents  that  are 
veering  away  from  Christianity  may  now,  by 
245 


The  Cobra's  Den 

God's  blessing  on  trebled  effort,  be  turned  to- 
ward the  Cross  of  Calvary,  and  India  yet  be 
won  in  this  generation.  The  time  for  work  is 
now. 


246 


XXV 


VERNACULAR  PREACHING  :     IS  IT  INEFFECTIVE  ? 

An  extract  from  Dr.  Norman  Macleod's  "  Ad- 
dress on  Missions  in  India,"  as  given  in  the  ap- 
pendix to  his  memoirs,  has  been  forwarded  to 
me  by  a  distinguished  divine,  noted  for  his 
earnest  interest  in  foreign  missions,  asking  that 
I  would  give  my  opinion  "as  to  his  claim  that 
the  mere  proclamation  of  the  gospel  to  the  adult 
Hindus  is  ineffectual," — that  is,  stated  boldly, 
that  vernacular  preaching  alone,  without  previous 
education  in  Western  science  and  culture,  is  in- 
effectual for  their  conversion. 

There  is  much  that  is  just  in  Dr.  Macleod's 
characterisation,  in  that  address,  of  the  theolog- 
ical terms  in  common  use  in  the  vernaculars  of 
India,  as  containing  misconceptions.  But  we 
must  remember  that  Dr.  Macleod's  visit  to 
India,  m.ade  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  was 
chiefly  to  his  own  missions;  to  those  holding  the 
Scotch  educational  ideas,  and  who  gave  them- 
selves almost  entirely  to  educational  work  in 
English,  and  who  did  not  know  the  vernaculars 
well,  if  at  all,  their  work  being  in  English.  He 

247 


The  Cobra's  Den 


imbibed  the  idea  that  you  must  first  educate  the 
Hindus  and  then  convert  thiem.  His  address  con- 
tains a  strong  and  keen  presentation  of  their  side 
of  the  question. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  pubUshed  "  Fundamen- 
tal Principles  "  of  the  Arcot  Mission  of  which  I 
am  a  member  declare  the  other  view,  to  which 
we  more  and  more  firmly  adhere,  viz  : 

"  We  believe  that  India  with  its  teeming  popu- 
lation is  accessible  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
from  her  lowliest  village  to  her  most  crowded 
city.  We  believe  that  God  has  endowed  the 
Hindus  with  an  intellect  peculiarly  capable  of 
comprehending  the  truths  which  He  has  revealed, 
and  with  a  conscience  fitted  to  be  awakened 
thereby. 

"We  believe  that  the  vernacular  languages  of 
India  furnish  media  fully  adapted  for  the  clear 
and  forcible  communication  of  divine  truth. 

"  We  believe  that  Christ's  commission,  recorded 
by  the  Evangelists,  enjoins  as  the  definite  plan  of 
missionary  labour  the  promulgation  among  the 
population  of  the  gospel  in  their  own  tongues  ; 
the  perseverance  in  the  use  of  the  means  until  in- 
dividuals and  communities  are  proselyted  to  the 
Christian  faith,  and  the  teaching  of  proselytes 
and  their  children  ; "  and,  therefore, 

248 


Vernacular  Preaching 

"That  each  missionary,  as  far  as  possible, 
should  make  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the 
heathen  in  the  vernaculars  his  chief  work." 

On  these  principles  the  Arcot  Mission  has  car- 
ried on  its  main  work  from  its  establishment. 
Of  the  7,513  converts  it  is  safe  to  say  that  more 
than  ninety  per  cent,  have  been  brought  in  by  this 
"public  proclamation"  of  the  gospel.  Admit- 
tedly a  large  proportion  of  these  is  from  the 
lower  classes.  But  of  our  converts  from  the 
higher  castes  it  is  also  true  that  a  large  percent- 
age has  been  brought  in  by  this  "  public  procla- 
mation "  of  the  gospel  in  the  vernaculars.  John 
Silas,  the  Arni  Brahman,  converted  and  baptised 
in  our  mission  in  1862,  and  who  died  an  efficient 
native  minister  in  an  adjoining  mission,  never  at- 
tended a  mission  school  or  an  English  school  a 
day  before  his  conversion.  He  heard  the  proc- 
lamation of  the  gospel  by  our  missionary  at 
Arni,  in  the  streets,  repeatedly.  He  obtained 
Tamil  Gospels  and  read  them,  and  was  converted 
and  nearly  lost  his  life  because  he  came  out  boldly 
and  embraced  Christianity.  Abraham  William, 
the  converted  Reddi,  the  beloved  and  successful 
native  pastor  in  our  mission,  owed  his  conver- 
sion to  street  preaching  in   Chittoor.  Isaac 

Henry,  the  lamented  Bible  teacher  in  the  schools 
249 


The  Cobra's  Den 


of  Vellore,  was  brought  to  Christ  by  the  vernac- 
ular preaching  in  the  mission  hospital  at  Arcot, 
where  he  was  a  patient.  John  Jacob  Rayappa, 
the  Brahman  convert  at  Madanapalle  in  1891,  was 
brought  in  solely  by  village  preaching  and  tracts. 
Old  Seth  Reddi,  the  father  of  the  beloved  John 
Hill  and  Samuel  Seth,  the  head  man  of  his  vil- 
lage, and  whom  I  buried  in  Palmaner  in  1861, 
was  brought  in  by  the  reading  of  tracts  and  gos- 
pels in  Telugu,  and  so  with  a  majority  of  our 
Brahmans  and  other  high  caste  Hindu  converts 
too  numerous  to  name. 

The  different  meanings  they  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  associate  with  the  vernacular  theological 
terms  we  have  to  use,  such  as  sin,  salvation,  re- 
generation, heaven,  etc.,  does  indeed  constitute 
a  difficulty.  Paul  had  exactly  the  same  difficulty 
to  contend  with  when  he  went  forth  among  the 
idolatrous  Gentiles,  when  he  discussed  with  the 
polished  Greeks  of  Athens  and  Corinth.  But,  in 
spite  of  that  difficulty,  he  was  successful  in  intro- 
ducing Christianity  in  those  lands  by  the  use  of 
their  vernacular,  steeped  in  idolatry  and  false 
ideas  though  it  was.  So  will  we  be,  if  we  judi- 
ciously use  and  explain  the  vernacular  terms  they 
have,  and  earnestly,  lovingly,  and  with  faith  push 
the  work.    Some  of  the  incidents  given  in  my 

250 


Vernacular  Preaching 

sermon  on  "  The  Bible  Tested,  or  How  the  Bible 
Works  in  India,"  published  by  the  American 
Bible  Society,  show  distinctly  that  Hindus  do 
comprehend  and  are  sometimes  moved  by  our 
public  proclamation,  and  that  they  have  a  con- 
science for  sin  which  is  capable  of  being  aroused 
by  this  oral  proclamation. 

Dr.  Macleod  says:  "In  no  case,  moreover, 
will  the  educated  and  influential  classes  listen  to 
such  preaching." 

I  join  issue  with  Dr.  Macleod.  He  has  never 
tested  it.  I  have.  I  have  stood  for  two  hours  in 
the  public  streets  of  a  city  with  the  streets  packed 
with  the  Brahmans,  merchants  and  city  elders, 
keenly  discussing  the  claims  and  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  and  their  astute  and  wily  objections 
thrown  in  showed  that  they  were  comprehend- 
ing and  fearing  the  power  of  the  truth.  I  have 
had  such  audiences  in  the  Mysore  kingdom  and 
the  Hyderabad  dominions,  as  well  as  in  British 
India.  After  a  long  discussion  in  the  market 
place  of  a  Mysore  city  with  the  chief  priest  of 
the  place  surrounded  by  seventy  of  his  pupils, 
and  the  educated  people  of  the  city,  and  which 
had  been  carried  on  into  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  closing  with  the  promise  of  the  priest  to 

meet  us  there  in  discussion  again  the  next  e\f"- 
261 


The  Cobra's  Den 


ing,  that  very  priest  came  secretly  to  our  tent,  in 
a  grove  near  the  city  walls,  the  next  day,  at  mid- 
day when  all  the  people  were  in  their  houses  at 
their  meals,  so  that  no  one  should  see  him  come, 
and,  after  an  interesting  conversation,  making 
sure  that  no  one  else  heard  him,  he  made  to  us 
this  frank  confession: 

"Sirs,  what  you  said  yesterday  in  the  market 
place  was  utterly  unanswerable.  I  did  the  best  I 
could  to  defend  my  own  position,  surrounded  as 
I  was  by  my  own  disciples,  but  I  am  not  going, 
to  meet  you  in  discussion  again.  What  you  said 
is  so  pure,  so  holy,  so  good,  it  so  appeals  to  the 
highest  desires  and  needs  of  men  that  it  seems  as 
though  it  must  be  true;  it  must  be  divine.  At 
all  events  it  is  a  nobler  religion  than  ours.  But, 
sirs,  we  Brahmans  cannot  afford  to  let  you  suc- 
ceed. W e  are  now  treated  as  demigods  by  the 
people;  we  reap  the  rich  revenues  from  all  these 
temples;  at  every  festival  we  receive  rich  gifts; 
we  are  looked  up  to  and  worshipped.  But  let 
your  system  succeed,  which  teaches  that  there 
need  be  no  human  mediator,  no  mediator  be- 
tween God  and  man  but  Jesus  Christ,  and  we 
Brahmans  drop  from  our  high  pedestal  down  to 
the  level  of  common  men,  and  must  struggle 
with  the  ignoble  throng  for  an  existence.  No, 

232 


Vernacular  Preaching 

sirs,  your  system  is  better  than  ours.  It  is  so 
pure,  so  holy,  so  good,  it  appeals  so  to  the  high- 
est desires  of  the  human  soul  that  it  seems  as 
^though  it  must  be  divine.  But,  sirs,  we  Brah- 
mans  cannot  afford  to  let  you  succeed  in  intro- 
ducing your  religion.  We  have  got  to  fight 
you." 

That  statement,  so  unusually  frank,  may  fur- 
nish a  key  to  the  often  repeated  assertion,  "We 
don't  know  what  all  this  means.  It  is  so  foreign, 
so  Occidental  that  we  do  not  at  all  comprehend 
it."  It  is  not  that  they  cannot  understand  God's 
plan  of  salvation  even  when  presented  in  the 
vernacular  and  with  defective  theological  terms 
which  we  must  explain  and  illustrate  as  we  use 
them,  for  this  Brahman  priest  knew  no  English, 
and  had  never  before  met  a  missionary,  and  yet 
he  took  its  essentials  all  in.  It  is  that  the  natural 
heart  there,  as  everywhere,  abetted  in  the  case  of 
the  Brahmans  by  powerful  self-interest,  stands 
out  stoutly  against  the  truth,  and  none  the  less 
with  those  who  have  received  an  education  in 
Western  lore.  The  very  few  conversions  from 
among  those  educated  in  mission  colleges,  in  the 
quarter  century  since  Dr.  Macleod  made  that  ad- 
dress, do  not  warrant  us  in  delaying  the  procla- 
mation of  the  gospel  until  India's  two  hundred 
253 


The  Cobra's  Den 


and  eighty  millions  have  been  educated  in  West- 
ern culture. 

Higher  education  has  its  place  in  the  uplifting 
of  India,  and  a  noble  place  it  is.  It  is  a  grand 
auxiliary  power,  and  in  our  mission  we  use  it  as 
such.  But  to  say  that  without  it  as  a  forerunner 
the  peoples  of  India  cannot  comprehend  the  way 
of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ,  cannot  under- 
standingly  accept  of  Him  as  their  Saviour,  is  a 
reflection  on  Him  who  gave  the  command,  "  Go, 
preach  the  gospel,"  and  who  said,  "he  that  be- 
lieveth  and  is  baptised  shall  be  saved." 

We  of  the  Arcot  Mission  press  forward  in  this 
vernacular  proclamation  of  the  gospel,  foolish 
though  it  seem  to  some,  in  the  absolute  confi- 
dence that  the  incoming  fruits  will  fully  sustain 
Paul's  declaration  that  "it  pleased  God  by  the 
foolishness  of  preaching  to  save  them  that  be- 
lieve." 


954 


XXVI 


A  UNIQUE  MISSIONARY  MEETING  ON  THE  HIMALAYAS 

Sir  Charles  Elliott,  the  Governor  of  Bengal, 
and  Lady  Elliott  last  week  sent  out  cards  of  invi- 
tation for  a  reception  to  all  the  missionaries  of  all 
societies  now  working  on  these  hills,  numbering 
more  than  eighty,  including  those  working  at 
Darjeeling,  Ghum,  and  Kalimpong,  and  those 
visiting  this  sanitarium  for  recuperation. 

The  principal  residents  of  Darjeeling,  and  tea 
planters  on  the  slopes  of  the  mountains,  and 
many  officials  up  here,  on  duty  with  the  gov- 
ernor, or  on  leave,  were  also  invited  by  Lady 
Elliott  to  meet  the  missionaries. 

Sir  Charles  has  had  long  experience  in  India, 
rising  from  the  bottom  of  the  Civil  Service  lad- 
der, up  through  the  different  grades,  by  sheer 
force  of  character,  until  he  has  attained  by  ap- 
pointment of  the  Queen  Empress,  to  his  present 
exalted  position.  In  government  official  parlance 
he  is  styled  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Bengal, 
because  the  Governor-General,  or  Viceroy,  also 
has  his  headquarters  in  Bengal,  and  of  course, 


The  Cobra's  Den 


overshadows  him.  But  Sir  Charles  is,  de  facto, 
Bengal's  governor,  having  his  own  Legislative 
Council,  and  his  own  Cabinet,  or  Secretaries,  en- 
tirely distinct  from  those  of  the  Viceroy. 

Darjeeling  is  the  Summer  Capital  of  Bengal, 
and  during  the  hottest  months  Sir  Charles  and 
Lady  Elliott  occupy  "The  Shrubbery,"  as  the 
gubernatorial  residence  here  is  called,  with  its 
beautiful  garden-park  around  it,  and  government 
offices  and  chief  officials  adjacent;  and  from  here 
the  affairs  of  the  great  Bengal  Presidency  are,  for 
the  time,  administered. 

The  cards  of  invitation  read  "To  a  Garden 
Party  at  4:00  o'clock,  to  be  followed  by  a  Draw- 
ing Room,  at  which  an  account  will  be  given  of 
the  Progress  of  Missionary  Work." 

A  break  had  come  in  the  Monsoon  weather  now 
upon  us,  and  the  clear  day  with  the  view  of 
eighty  miles  of  snowy  mountains  added  to  the 
zest  with  which  all  parties  came  together.  The 
Governor  and  Lady  Elliott  were  exceedingly  af- 
fable, having  pleasant  words  of  cheer  for  each 
missionary,  as  they  enquired  after  their  work, 
and  taking  special  pains  to  introduce  the  mis- 
sionaries and  officials,  residents,  and  tea  planters, 
who  were  present.  After  an  hour's  very  pleasant 
social  intercourse,  during  which  refreshments 

256 


Missionary  Meeting  on  the  Himalayas 

were  served  to  all,  Sir  Charles  passed  through 
the  company,  inviting  all  to  come  to  the  "  Durbar 
Room"  or  Reception  Hall  used  on  State  Oc- 
casions, and  the  company  was  quickly  seated  on 
sofas,  divans  and  chairs  placed  in  an  uncon- 
ventional manner  all  around  the  spacious  room. 

Pleasant  conversation  ran  on  for  a  few  minutes, 
when  order  was  called,  and  the  Governor,  step- 
ping to  a  table  at  the  head  of  the  room,  gave  a 
brief  address  of  welcome,  which  was  so  pleasant 
and  so  telling  that  I  have  written  it  out  briefly, 
that  others  too  may  enjoy  it  and  be  helped  and 
stimulated  by  it. 

Sir  Charles  spoke  substantially  as  follows: 

"  Missionary  friends.  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I 
wish  in  a  few  words  to  say  what  a  very  great 
pleasure  it  gives  Lady  Elliott  and  myself  to  wel- 
come so  many  missionaries  here  as  our  chief 
guests  this  evening,  coming  as  they  do  from  all 
parts  of  our  Presidency  as  well  as  from  the  other 
Presidencies  and  Provinces  of  India,  and  repre- 
senting so  many  different  missionary  societies, 
from  so  many  different  countries. 

"We  are  very  glad  that  so  many  missionaries 
can  come  up  to  this  delightful  climate,  from  the 
burning  plains,  for  a  little  well-earned  rest  and 
recuperation,  after  their  soul   absorbing  and 

257 


The  Cobra's  Den 


arduous  toil  at  their  stations,  for  it  will  fit  them 
the  better  for  the  heavy  work  ever  before  them. 

"  It  gives  us  real  pleasure  to  tender  to  them  this 
small  amount  of  hospitality,  with  a  large  amount 
of  sympathy  and  good  will,  and  of  appreciation 
of  the  noble,  and  to  India,  all  important  service 
that  they  are  rendering. 

' '  My  long  experience  in  India,  in  the  different 
Presidencies  and  Provinces  has  taught  me  that 
the  British  Government  in  India  cannot  possibly 
do  the  work  which,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  is 
our  only  justification  for  being  here,  namely  the 
civilisation,  enlightenment,  and  uplifting  of  the 
whole  people  of  India,  without  the  aid  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. For  extended  observation,  and  care- 
ful study  of  the  people,  have  produced  in  me  the 
profound  conviction  that  nothing  can  lift  these 
millions  of  Hindus  up  to  the  standard  of  our 
Western  Christian  nations  in  probity,  morality 
and  nobleness  of  life,  but  that  gospel  of  Christ 
which  has  lifted  us  up. 

"I  view,  then,  the  missionary  work  as  an  in- 
dispensable, unofficial,  voluntary  auxiliary  of  the 
government  in  carrying  out  in  India  its  highest 
aspirations,  the  ennobling  of  the  whole  Hindu 
people.  Always  in  our  tours  in  the  provinces 
Lady  Elliott  and  myself  find  our  greatest  pleasure 

258 


Missionary  Meeting  on  the  Himalayas 

in  looking  up  and  trying  to  help  and  encourage 
the  missionary  work  of  all  societies  wherever  we 
go.  We  are  grateful  to  you  missionaries  for 
your  self-sacrificing  labours  and  for  the  help  you 
thus  render  the  government,  and  I  assure  you, 
that  you  will  always  find  sympathy  both  in  'The 
Shrubbery'  where  we  now  are,  and  in  'Belvi- 
dere '  House  in  Calcutta,  so  long  as  we  continue 
to  occupy  it. 

"  1  wish  f  urther  to  say,  that  Lady  Elliott  and  my- 
self have  to-day  invited  you,  the  leadmg  residents 
and  visitors  at  Darjeeling,  and  tea  planters  of  the 
district,  that  you  may  meet  these  missionaries, 
and  learn  of  their  work  and  learn  to  know  them 
personally,  and  so  henceforth  take  a  much  greater 
interest  in  their  work,  and  render  them  the  more 
liberal  help.  If  they  give  their  lives  to  the  work, 
it  is  only  fair  that  we  should  aid  in  furnishing 
them  abundant  supplies. 

"  I  congratulate  you  all  that  the  last  census,  and 
the  signs  of  the  times  all  point  to  a  very  positive 
and  somewhat  rapid  progress  of  the  missionary 
work  in  India.  There  is  unquestionably  an  under- 
current working  among  the  higher  classes  in 
India  toward  Christianity,  in  spite  of  all  the  open 
manifestations  against  it,  and  we  may  look  for- 
ward with  confident  expectation  to  the  day  when 


The  Cobra's  Den 


all  India  shall  bow  at  the  feet  of  Christ,  who 
alone  can  uplift,  purify  and  save." 

At  the  nomination  of  the  governor,  Bishop 
Johnson,  the  Anglican  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  and 
Metropolitan  of  India,  then  took  the  chair,  and, 
in  a  brief  address,  thanking  Sir  Charles  for  his 
outspoken  testimony  to  the  missionary  work,  and 
him  and  Lady  Elliott  for  the  kind  conception  and 
kind  action  which  had  assembled  this  company, 
went  on  to  say  that  his  duties  as  Metropolitan  of 
India,  taking  him  from  the  Himalayas  to  Cape 
Comorin,  and  from  Karachi,  on  the  sea  of  Arabia, 
to  Assam,  on  the  borders  of  China,  gave  him  the 
opportunity  of  guaging  any  progress  made  in 
the  missionary  work,  not  alone  of  the  Church  of 
England,  but,  to  some  extent,  of  all  other  so- 
cieties within  those  wide  limits;  that  when  he 
first  came  to  India,  a  decade  ago,  he  did  not,  at 
once,  appreciate  the  amount  of  preparatory  work 
that  had  been  done,  not  to  be  tabulated  in  any 
statistics,  not  apparent  to  the  eye  of  the  casual 
observer,  but  which  he  now  saw  to  be  the  chief 
element  of  hope  for  the  speedy  evangelisation  of 
India.  He  told  of  the  numbers  of  educated 
native  gentlemen  who,  to  his  knowledge,  were 
now  privately  reading  the  Bible,  and  endeavouring 
to  conform  their  lives  to  its  precepts,  while  still 

260 


Missionary  Meeting  on  the  Himalayas 


outwardly  adhering  to  Hinduism,  who  ere  long, 
when  the  Spirit  of  God  should  mightily  move 
among  them,  would  come  over,  as  a  mighty  host, 
into  the  Christian  Church.  He  spoke  of  the 
wonderful  uplifting  power  which  Christianity 
had  already  manifested  in  the  Madras  Presidency, 
in  those  regions  where  very  large  numbers  of 
converts  had  been  gathered,  and  referred  to  the 
remarkable  declaration  of  the  Director  of  Public 
Instruction  in  Madras  in  his  last  official  report  on 
the  progress  of  education,  to  the  effect  that  if  the 
percentage  of  increase  during  the  last  twenty 
years  be  maintained,  the  native  Christian  popula- 
tion of  that  presidency  would  within  the  next 
two  generations  have  surpassed  the  Brahman 
in  education,  in  intelligence,  in  material  pros- 
perity and  in  official  position.  He  intimated  that 
he  had  come  to  India  interested,  indeed,  in  mis- 
sions, but  practically  a  pessimist  as  to  their  prog- 
ress; that  a  decade  of  close  observation  had 
converted  him  into  an  optimist,  for  the  well- 
marked  indications  now  were  that  India  would, 
in  the  not  very  distant  future,  become  an  integral 
part  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ. 

Rev.  Archibald  Turnbull,  B.  D.,  the  senior  mis- 
sionary, in  the  Darjeeling  District,  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  to  which  seems  to  be  committed  the 

261 


The  Cobra's  Den 


evangelisation  of  the  Eastern  Himalayas,  gave  a 
terse  and  interesting  account  of  the  work  going 
on  among  these  Hill-people,  with  their  twelve 
catechists  and  twenty  junior  assistants,  at  Dar- 
jeeling,  and  at  twelve  out-stations,  reaching  to 
the  base  of  the  mountains;  Nipali  Catechists  for 
the  Nipalis  who  have  immigrated  in  such  num- 
bers from  the  adjacent  Kingdom  of  Nipal,  in  con- 
nection with  the  tea  industry;  Lepcha  Cathechists 
for  the  Lepchas  from  Sikkim,  and  a  Bhutia  Cate- 
chist  working  among  the  Bhutias,  who  have 
flocked  in  from  Bhutan;  and  told  of  the  little 
churches  they  had  already  established  here  with 
1,700  adherents,  and  600  communicants,  with 
baptisms  of  new  converts  every  month.  He  also 
spoke  of  the  Scotch  Ladies'  Zenana  Mission  in 
Darjeeling,  consisting  of  three  Scotch  ladies,  and 
one  native  woman,  who  carry  on  their  work  in 
and  around  Darjeeling  in  four  languages, — Nipali, 
Hindi,  Bengali  and  Hindustani. 

Miss  Edith  Highton,  of  the  English  Church 
Zenana  Mission  in  Calcutta,  followed  with  an  in- 
tensely interesting  account  of  their  methods  of 
work,  their  hindrances  and  their  successes. 

Rev.  Mr.  Gwynn,  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,  in  charge  of  their  Training  Institution  in 
Calcutta,  then  told  of  his  work,  and  instanced 

262 


Missionary  Meeting  on  the  Himalayas 

remarkable  cases  of  conversion  of  young  men  of 
the  higher  classes  from  their  study  of  the  Bible  in 
mission  schools,  who  had,  indeed,  lost  all,  of 
property  and  friends,  but  had  gained  Christ;  thus 
effectually  answering  the  oft  repeated  taunt  that 
Hindus  only  become  Christians  for  worldly  gain. 

Rev.  J.  A.  Graham,  M.  A.,  of  the  "Young 
Men's  Guild  Mission"  of  the  Church  of  Scotland 
at  Kalimpong,  in  British  Bhutan,  spoke  of  the  ex- 
ceedingly hopeful  work  in  his  mission,  with  200 
baptisms  of  mountaineers  last  year,  and  of  the 
native  Church  organising  a  "  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  "  among  themselves,  to  send  the  gospel 
into  the  Kingdom  of  Bhutan  adjacent,  into  which 
no  European  can  yet  enter;  and  of  the  resignation 
from  mission  service  of  the  senior  and  highest 
paid  native  evangelist,  who  had  begun  the  work 
at  Kalimp6ng,  some  twelve  years  ago,  that  he 
might  go  forth  as  the  first  foreign  missionary  of 
the  native  church  to  the  turbulent  and  dangerous 
regions  of  Bhutan,  receiving  only  the  voluntary 
contributions  of  the  native  Christians  to  support 
him  in  Bhutan,  and  his  family  in  Kalimp6ng, 
since  they  could  not  accompany  him. 

He  also  spoke  for  the  "Scottish  Universities' 
Mission,"  in  Independent  Sikkim,  now  under  the 
efficient  charge  of  Rev.  Robert  Kilgour,  B.  D., 

263 


The  Cobra's  Den 


of  Glasgow  University,  who,  with  his  fifteen 
native  assistants,  is  pushing  the  work  up  into 
Eastern,  Central  and  Western  Sikkim,  building 
their  little  churches  almost  on  the  borders  of  the 
perpetual  snows;  for  in  Sikkim  rise  those  giant 
mountains  23,000,  25,000  and  27,000  feet  high, 
towered  over  by  their  monarch  Kinchin  Janga, 
The  Golden  Horn,  28,177  f^^t  high,  the  second 
highest  mountain  in  the  world. 

With  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to  the  chairman, 
the  speakers,  and  to  Sir  Charles  and  Lady  Elliott, 
and  a  cheering  cup  of  coffee  as  we  passed  out 
through  the  refreshment  room  again,  we  sepa- 
rated, with  the  intensified  conviction  and  deter- 
mination that  "from  the  eternal  snows  of  the 
Himalayas  to  the  scorching  sands  of  Cape  Co- 
morin  Jesus  shall  be  King." 


264 


XXVII 


THE  ORIENTAL  "BRIDE  OF  THE  LAMB"' 

I  AM  asked  as  to  the  "Cost  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions." Is  it  not  a  very  expensive  agency  ?  Does 
it  produce  adequate  results  ?  This  is  a  fair  ques- 
tion if  asked  in  a  proper  spirit,  with  a  desire  to 
remedy  defects  and  help  forward  the  work. 

I  have  prepared  and  brought  here  statistics  with 
reference  to  your  foreign  missionary  work  which 
prove  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  economical 
agencies  ever  utilised  by  the  Reformed  Church 
for  the  establishment  of  churches  and  the  bring- 
ing in  of  souls  into  the  Kingdom,  and  the  educa- 
tion and  elevation  of  a  people:  but  the  lateness 
of  the  hour  forbids  my  presenting  these  statistics 
now. 

Yet,  for  the  moment,  grant  that  the  missionary 
work  does  cost,  and  that  it  costs  heavily.  What 
then? 

Mr.  President,  Brothers,  Sisters:  This  is  prob- 

•  The  concluding  part  of  an  address  before  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Reformed  Church,  on  Foreign  Missionary  Even- 
ing, at  Catskill,  N.  Y.,  June  8th,  1896. 

265 


The  Cobra's  Den 


ably  the  last  time  that  I  shall  ever  be  permitted  to 
address  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  Thirty-seven  years  ago  this  month  1  at- 
tended the  meeting  of  the  General  Synod  in  Al- 
bany, then  ordained  and  under  appointment  to 
sail  to  join  the  Arcot  Mission.  Twice  before 
during  this  thirty-seven  years  I  have  returned, 
broken  down,  to  my  native  land  for  recuperation, 
and  have  had  the  opportunity  to  plead  with  you 
for  India,  ere  rejoining  my  field.  Now,  a  third 
time  God  has  heard  prayer  and  granted  such  res- 
toration that  I  look  forward  with  joy  to  a  speedy 
return  to  my  chosen  life  work. 

Fifteen  years'  work,  in  completing  the  transla- 
tion and  revision  of  the  Telugu  Bible,  and  in  the 
bringing  out  of  an  illustrated  Bible  Dictionary 
written  from  an  Oriental  standpoint  for  Oriental 
people,  for  which  I  have  been  for  twenty  years 
preparing,  and  other  literary  and  missionary 
labour  has  been  laid  on  my  shoulders,  and  how 
am  I  straitened  until  it  be  accomplished.  My 
heart  is  pulling  at  the  leash  to  get  back  this  fall 
and  throw  my  every  energy  into  the  work. 

At  my  age,  and  in  India's  treacherous  climate, 
there  is  little  human  probability  that  1  shall  again 
see  the  land  of  my  birth.  Nor  would  I  have  it 
otherwise.    It  is  my  earnest  prayer  that  I  may  be 

266 


The  Oriental  "Bride  of  the  Lamb" 


summoned  up  with  the  harness  on;  that  my 
body  may  be  laid  in  the  cemetery  there  among 
my  people;  and  that,  when  the  trump  shall 
sound,  I  may  go  up  surrounded  by  my  spiritual 
children  whom  God  has  allowed  me  to  bring  out 
of  heathenism's  darkness  into  His  light. 

I  desire  then,  in  this  probably  my  last  address 
to  you,  to  say  a  few  very  earnest  words. 

Grant  that  the  missionary  work  does  cost. 
What  then  ?  Nature  teaches  us  that  the  higher 
the  order  of  being,  the  longer  the  period,  and, 
the  more  expensive  the  process  of  development. 
The  inhabitants  of  a  cube  of  moist  cheese  are 
born,  developed  and  complete  their  life  work  in 
a  few  hours.  The  lamb  gives  a  fleece  at  the  end 
of  the  first  year  that  pays  all  the  expense  of  its 
rearing.  The  blooded  colt  requires  three  or  four 
or  more  years  of  care  and  costly  nurture  before 
it  brings  any  return  to  its  owner. 

The  daughter  of  parents  of  culture;  how  care- 
fully is  she  nurtured  that  her  physical,  intellectual 
and  spiritual  powers  may  attain  the  most  perfect 
development.  No  expense  is  spared  for  doctors, 
teachers,  advisers,  as  she  goes  on  through  pri- 
mary, grammar  and  high  school,  and  on  to  Wel- 
lesley,  or  Barnard.  For  two  and  a  half  decades 
the  parents'  care,  the  parents'  wealth  is  lavished 

2G7 


The  Cobra's  Den 


upon  her  that  she  may  become  an  ornament  to 
society,  an  uplifting  agency  in  the  world. 

Brothers  and  sisters  of  the  Reformed  Church, 
you  are  nurturing  a  "Bride  for  the  Lamb"  in 
India,  in  China,  in  Japan,  in  Arabia.  On  you 
devolves  the  joyful  task  that  she  should  be  fitly 
cultured  to  be  "The  Lamb's  Wife"  to  eternity. 
Who,  who  would  complain  of  the  expense 
needed  for  the  proper  culturing  of  these  Oriental 
Brides  of  Christ?  The  Reformed  Church  aims 
to  present  to  her  Lord,  as  His  bride,  "The  king's 
daughter  all  glorious  within,"  adorned  with 
pearls  not  bought  in  the  market,  pearls  of  char- 
acter, pearls  of  devotion,  pearls  of  absolute  con- 
secration to  her  Lord.  "So  shall  the  King  greatly 
desire  her  beauty."  Who  would  complain  if  she 
does  not  reach  her  maturity  in  one  decade  or 
two;  if  she  requires  many  long  years,  as  we 
measure  years,  for  her  growth,  her  culture,  her 
adornment! 

O,  Church  of  the  Redeemed!  begrudge  no 
care,  no  labour:  Be  not  a  stingy  mother,  nor 
impatient,  for  she  whom  thou  dost  nourish  in 
those  far  lands  of  the  Orient  is  for  all  ages  to  be 
"The  Wife  of  the  Lamb." 

Four  and  a  half  decades  ago  I  heard  and  heeded 

a  summons  to  become  a  tutor  to  that  bride  in 

868  , 


The  Oriental  "Bride  of  the  Lamb" 


India,  a  summons  that  after  all  these  intervening 
years,  and  with  my  maturer  powers,  still  rings, 
and  with  tenfold  force,  in  my  listening  ears: 

"  My  soul  is  not  at  rest ;  there  comes  a  strange 
And  secret  whisper  to  my  spirit  like  a  dream  of  night, 
That  tells  me  I  am  on  enchanted  ground  : 
The  voice  of  my  departed  Lord, '  Go  teach  all  nations,' 
Comes  on  the  night  air,  and  awakes  mine  ear. 

Why  stay  I  here  ?    The  vows  of  God  are  on  me. 
And  I  may  not  stop  to  play  with  shadows, 
Or  pluck  earthly  flowers,  till  I  my  work  have  done, 
And  rendered  up  account.    .    .  . 

It  matters  not  if  storm  or  sunshine  be 
My  earthly  lot ;  bitter  or  sweet  my  cup. 
I  only  pray,  '  God  fit  me  for  the  work, 
God  make  me  holy  and  my  spirit  nerve 
For  the  stern  hour  of  strife.'    Let  me  but  know 
There  is  a  watchful  eye  that  plans  my  path, 
An  arm  unseen  that  ever  holds  me  up. 
And  I  will  joy  to  tread  the  darksome  wilderness. 

And  when  I  come  to  stretch  me  for  the  last 
Beneath  the  Cocoa's  shade,  it  will  be  sweet 
That  I  have  toiled  for  other  worlds  than  this : 
And  through  the  ages  of  eternal  years 
My  spirit  never  shall  repent 
That  toil,  and  hardness  once  were  mine  below." 

This  is  the  inspiration  with  which  I  hasten 
back  to  India;  my  India,  nay,  nay,  Christ's 
India,  revolted  indeed,  but  a  part  of  which  you 
and  I,  we  of  the  Reformed  Church,  have  sworn 
to  bring  back  to  its  allegiance  to  our  Lord. 

May  this  be  the  aspiration,  the  inspiration, 

2f)9 


The  Cobra's  Den 

with  which  we  each  spring  forward  to  the  work 
to  which  our  Master  summons  us,  while  we  hear 
before  us  His  inspiriting  voice,  "  Be  thou  faithful 
unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  the  Crown  of 
Life." 


270 


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